Chuck & Sarah Versus the Second Honeymoon
by Imagination-Parade
Summary: The ups and downs of Chuck & Sarah's honeymoon and first two weeks of marriage, otherwise known as my attempt to fill in the skipped two weeks from "Chuck Versus the Cliffhanger"
1. Chapter 1

_Hi everyone! Before we get into this story, I just want to take a minute and acknowledge those readers who send me anonymous reviews. I've gotten some really lovely anonymous reviews from some Chucksters here, and there's no way for me to reply and say thanks, so thank you!_

_This story is my take on Chuck & Sarah's honeymoon, since the show totally cheated us out of everything in that department. We missed _a lot_, you guys! It was going to be a one shot, but then the first two and a half days of their vacation took about 3400 words, so now it's going to be a three-parter. Here's part one!_

_I wanted to call the story "Chuck Versus the Honeymooners: Part II" (with Part I being the Season 3 Honeymooners episode on the French train) but I thought that might confuse people, so we're going with this..which might also be confusing, but at least I can let Chuck & Sarah explain this one ;)_

_ As always, _Chuck_ isn't mine, and please review!_

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><p>The honeymoon began not at an airport, but at a bank. After re-routing Morgan to the nearest branch of their financial institution and feeding him a cover story about Chuck forgetting to make a withdrawal for honeymoon spending money, the newly married Chuck Bartowski and Sarah Walker entered the bank in their full wedding attire. Every head in the place turned and watched as the bride and groom made their way to the front desk. Chuck held the envelope containing the papers that, per the settlement agreement outlined in Hartley's letter, lacked only two signatures to complete the wire transfer of 877 million dollars to their newly-established joint account with shaking hands while Sarah calmly asked to see a notary. The amused-looking girl behind the desk pointed them to a corner office. Sarah thanked her and headed for the room, pulling a nervous Chuck behind her.<p>

A quick examination of their IDs and marriage license, signatures from the notary and the anxious and astonished couple, and a bit of computer work, and it was done. They were officially multi-millionaires. The man who had been helping them rolled back from his computer with wide eyes and a heavy side.

"Congratulations," he said, shaking his head. "That is _some_ wedding present."

"Yes, yes it is," Chuck quickly replied.

The man stood to leave his office and he saw his next appointment arrive and said, "Maybe you can get her a real ring now, huh?"

After a shared glance at the twist-ties adorning their fingers and a dirty look to the man from Sarah, the couple sat silent and motionless in their chairs, staring directly at the wall in front of them.

"Eight hundred…and seventy-seven…_million_ dollars," Sarah finally said.

"Sarah?" Chuck asked. "Can I freak out?"

Sarah's eyes met his, and she smiled. With a nod, she said, "Yeah."

One more quick stop later, Chuck and Sarah arrived at LAX. They had directed Morgan to stop a second time so they could exchange their formal wedding clothes for dark jeans and a red shirt for him and a casual white dress and black leather jacket for her. After saying his final goodbyes and swearing to get Sarah's wedding dress into her closet at home unharmed and in one piece, Morgan bid them adieu. Sarah pulled their necessary travel documents out of her bag, checked her watch, and gasped.

"We have to check our bags _and _get through security…we're just barely going to make it, Chuck," Sarah said, grabbing her rolling suitcase and speed-walking towards the check-in desk. She noticed Chuck wasn't following her and turned to find him staring at the departure boards. She walked back to him and said, "What are you doing, Chuck? We're going to miss our flight!"

"Okay," Chuck nodded, making no effort to move.

"What do you mean '_okay_?'" Sarah asked.

"Let's skip it," Chuck said.

"Our honeymoon?" Sarah asked, a worried expression creeping across her face.

"No. What? God, no," Chuck said, finally looking at her. "_France_. Let the plane leave without us."

"I don't understand," she said softly.

"We've done the Paris thing…and the French countryside thing," Chuck said. "That week on the train was our first honeymoon. Our dating honeymoon, if you will."

"Yeah…I thought that's why we were going back?" Sarah asked, desperately trying to understand where he was going with this.

"Well, yeah, it was, but Sarah…we have," he started. He lowered his voice before continuing. "Eight hundred and seventy-seven _million_ dollars. We're practically billionaires!"

"One hundred and twenty-three million is a long way from _practically_," she said.

"Still…we can go _anywhere_," he said. "Let's go somewhere we haven't seen! Unless your heart is absolutely set on France. Then, just forget what I'm saying and let's go try to get to the gate on time."

Sarah bit her lip in contemplation and looked at the departure boards. She scanned the cities for a moment before looking to Chuck and asking, "Where do you want to go?"

That's how they found themselves in two first-class seats to Sydney, Australia. Chuck's face had paled when he heard the last-minute airfare on the two tickets, but Sarah had simply nudged him, whispered, "We're billionaires, remember?" in a teasing tone, and handed over her credit card with a smile.

Their plans to sleep on the flight flew right out the window as the excitement from the wedding, Hartley's gift, and their impromptu destination change kept them awake. They pulled out Chuck's laptop and spent the duration of the flight utilizing the plane's free Wi-Fi to check out where they were headed and reserve a honeymoon suite in one of the swankiest beach resorts near the city. They sipped champagne and kissed and animatedly chatted about the two weeks that lie ahead. By the time they landed and checked into their room in Australia, they were nothing short of exhausted.

Chuck insisted upon carrying her into the room, and she giggled, burying her tired face into his neck. Having brought the suitcases into the room before his lovely bride, he kicked the door shut behind him and set her down, keeping her close to his side. Hand-in-hand, they explored the suite, checking out the living room with the fancy furniture and large flat-screen TV, the dining room with a chandelier above the table, the bathroom with their own private hot tub, and the bedroom with the king-sized bed and cream-colored satin sheets. They stepped out onto their balcony, admiring the perfect view.

"Wow," Chuck finally breathed. "This place is incredible. The pictures on the website did not do it justice."

"This place better be incredible," Sarah said. "I'm pretty sure two weeks in here is going to cost about twice as much as our entire wedding."

"So we blow a little bit of money," he said with a shrug. He grinned. "We've got more."

"What happened to the guy who completely freaked out when he heard the price of the plane tickets?" she asked.

"He just checked into the most beautiful hotel room he's ever seen with the most beautiful woman he's ever seen," Chuck said, winking at her.

Sarah grinned and shook her head. "I can't believe how crazy these past couple days have been."

He let go of her side and turned to face her, clutching both of her hands with his. "Are you feeling okay? How do you feel?"

She squeezed his hands and smiled. "I'm good," she said. She turned her head and peered at the luxurious bed behind her. "Though…how horrible would we be if we just got into that bed over there and went to sleep?"

Chuck sighed in relief. "I'm so glad you said that. That's all I've been able to think about since I laid my eyes on it."

Sarah pulled his arms all the way around her and stepped into his embrace. Her arms went around his neck, fingers threading into his hair, and she said, "So…sleep first, honeymoon tomorrow?"

"Deal," Chuck smiled, sealing the promise with a gentle kiss. "There's just one thing I think we should do first."

"What's that?" she asked.

Chuck took her hand again and guided her into the room. He closed the sliding door that led to the balcony, locking it behind them, and walked her over to the bed.

"Sit," he said.

Sarah sat on the bed, crawling to the middle of the mattress and crossing her legs Indian-style. Once she felt the mattress beneath her, it took everything she had not to fall over and give in to the sleep that wanted to overtake her body, but she fought it, wanting to see what Chuck had in store for her. Chuck started by pulling out his iPod and plugging it into the docking station by the bed. Nina Simon's "Feeling Good" filled the room, and Sarah smiled. Chuck reached into his black jacket and pulled out a small, blue, velvet bag. He used his knees to walk across the mattress, mimicking her position once he reached her. Chuck sat directly across from Sarah and poured their wedding bands into his palm. The couple stared at the rings for a moment before looking at each other.

"You ready?" Chuck asked with a grin.

"I'm really glad we saved something special for just us," Sarah said with a big smile.

"Me too," he said. He held his ring out to her and asked, "You want to go first?"

Sarah took the ring in her right hand and held his left hand with hers. She hesitated for a moment and said, "What should I…say? Should I say something or should I just…do it?"

"How about…I love you?" Chuck suggested.

"I like that," she smiled.

Sarah placed the ring back into his right palm and used both hands to undo the white twist-tie around his ring finger. She picked up the band again and tossed the twist-tie onto the mattress. Her eyes watered as she grabbed his hand.

"I love you, Chuck," she said. She slid the ring onto his finger and held his hand in both of hers, admiring it. With a soft voice, she added, "Thank you for marrying me."

A tear spilled from her eye when she looked up and saw that he was looking at her the same way he had looked at her after she read her vows during their practice wedding. He brushed the tear away, and she offered him her hand. He placed her ring into her right palm, untwisting the tie around her finger.

"I love you, Sarah," he said, sliding her band onto her finger. She breathed out a small chuckle and blinked back another tear. He brought her hand to his lips, kissed it softly, and said, "Thank you for marrying me."

"Perfect," she whispered, looking down at their matching rings.

Their song reverberated against the walls of the honeymoon suite as the couple held hands and fixed their eyes upon one another. After a few moments of marveling at the pure love and happiness in the other's eyes, they leaned together slowly. Sarah let a small noise escape the back of her throat as their lips met in a tender kiss, and Chuck moaned as he reached for her waist. She sat on one of his knees, stretching her legs across his lap, and they exchanged passionately soft kisses until their song ended. They pulled apart as the room grew silent, eyes locking together briefly, and Sarah kissed him again when the song began again and she realized he had set it up to play on a loop. He had been right. It was now her favorite song.

Chuck pulled away after another minute of kissing and, keeping his face close to hers, asked, "Maybe a little bit of slow, gentle honeymooning before we go to sleep?"

"Deal," she muttered against his lips and pulled him on top of her as she finally let herself fall back against the mattress.

Chuck held her hand the entire time as he made love with his wife for the first time. They fell asleep almost instantly after, wrapped in each other's arms, and woke up nearly half a day later, wrapped naked in the satin sheets. They almost never slept like that at home, due to the fact that their bedroom window still had a propensity to serve as a second front door from time-to-time, so Chuck immediately reached for her, wanting to feel her warm morning skin against his. He pulled her back into his chest so they were spooning, and Sarah's body nestled perfectly against his. Their feet began to play under the covers, and Chuck pulled her in a little bit closer.

"Are you awake?" he softly asked.

Sarah scrunched her face and moaned, "Leave me alone. I'm on vacation."

"Yes, you are," he chuckled. "You don't have to get up."

"Good," she sighed. "I never want to leave this bed."

"That works for me, too," he grinned.

He brushed some hair away from her neck before returning his arm to her waist. Chuck leaned down and attached his lips to her neck, suckling on her skin and tasting her with his tongue. Sarah's eyes remained closed, but her lips parted on a pleasurable sigh.

"You like my neck," she sleepily mumbled.

"I do," Chuck laughed. He kissed her skin a few more times and muttered, "It's warm and soft…" He nuzzled his nose against a dry portion of her neck, lightly breathed in, and added, "And you always smell good."

Sarah moaned as his lips continued to caress her sensitive skin. She leaned into him a little bit more and whispered, "This is nice."

"Yeah," Chuck agreed.

He pulled away from her neck and used his hand to guide her chin towards him. She twisted her upper body so that she was laying half on her back and half on her side. Her eyes fluttered open, and she was met with the sight of her husband smiling down at her, love glimmering in his deep brown eyes. She said nothing but smiled back at him.

"Good morning, Mrs. Bartowski," he said.

"Good morning, Mr. Walker," she said.

They shared a laugh and a gentle, silent kiss to their mouths. She watched his eyes travel over her face and waited for his next move.

"You look so beautiful, honey," Chuck said.

She stroked his cheek. "You don't look so bad yourself."

They fell into another sweet kiss, and Chuck moved them lower on the mattress with one arm, pulling the covers over their heads with the other. Just as Sarah had wished, they never left that bed, filling their first day in Australia with tender caresses, intimate kisses, pleasure-filled giggles, whispered sweet nothings, and more room service than they knew what to do with. At the end of the day, after another steamy round of lovemaking, they sat together in the middle of their bed, Sarah on his thighs, her legs curled around his back. Their sweaty bodies entwined, they took a moment to catch their breaths before sharing a smile and one more kiss.

"For the record," Chuck said as they pulled out of the kiss. "I'm a big fan of this honeymoon thing."

"It _is_ going pretty well, isn't it?" Sarah concurred.

"We should do this every year," Chuck said. "Seriously…every anniversary for the rest of our lives, we'll pick a place, book a honeymoon suite like this one and just…go."

"No arguments here," Sarah smiled.

Chuck threw himself back onto the mattress with a sigh. He grasped her hips, and she moved forward to sit on his stomach.

"You're kind of exhausting," Chuck told her.

Sarah laughed and leaned down for another kiss. Rather than fall to his side and snuggle against him like he wanted her to do, she crawled off of him and hopped off the bed. He watched her walk towards the bathroom, eyes fixated on the sway in her hips. She turned to look at him when she reached the doorway, and he pretended that he hadn't been staring. She shot him a knowing look.

"Come on, babe," she said, nodding her head. "Let's hit the shower."

Chuck groaned and reluctantly pulled his tired body out of bed, following his lady into the lavish bathroom.

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><p>Chuck woke up the next morning as his wife maneuvered herself into a sitting position atop the blankets that were covering his stomach, a leg on either side of his body. She was dressed in small denim shorts, a white tank top, and her blue sweater. Her blonde locks rested against her right shoulder in a single braid. His hands came to rest on her waist as he woke up, and she tilted her head to the side, smiling down at him.<p>

"Good morning, Mrs. Bartowski," he grinned.

She chuckled. "Good morning, Mr. Walker."

"Why are you dressed?" he grumbled.

"Because people typically wear clothes when they go out," Sarah said.

"Why are we going out?" Chuck asked.

"Because we're in Australia, and I want to go explore."

"I have something we can explore," he grinned.

"What?" she asked, shooting him a look.

"That private hot tub in there," he said as he unbuttoned and unzipped her shorts, giving him a peek at her lacy blue panties.

She glanced down at her shorts for a moment before looking at him, pointing to the denim, and saying, "Put those back together."

Chuck did what he was told and said, "Baby…you're really going to make me go out?"

"Yeah," she smiled. "Unless you want me to go out without you..."

"You wouldn't," he said, narrowing his eyes at her.

"I would," she confirmed. "Come on, Chuck. I never get to actually _see_ the places I go! And _you_! In the airport…Mr. Let's-Go-Somewhere-We-Haven't-Seen! You got me here. Let's go see it."

With one last groan, Chuck sat up, pulled her in for a hot good morning kiss, and shifted her off of his lap so he could get out of bed. She relaxed against the pillows and watched him get dressed. Once he was ready to go, he tossed her purse to her, grabbed his video camera, and held out his hand.

"Let's go see Sydney," he said.

She took his hand and smiled. "It'll be fun. I promise."

They ventured into downtown Sydney, exploring the city, checking out the sites, and buying Sarah several new outfits after she lamented about having packed for a completely different location and honeymoon. They walked around the city with his arm draped around her shoulder and her hand holding his, her shopping bags dangling from his free hand.

Much to Chuck's amusement and surprise, Sarah spoke in a near flawless Australian accent whenever she had to interact with a store clerk, a waiter, or another local, transitioning right back to her American voice whenever she spoke to him. He waited for her to realize she wasn't on a mission and didn't need to do that, but after a while, he decided that maybe Sarah didn't even know she was doing it. He also decided it'd be fun to see how long she _continued_ to do it, so Chuck stayed quiet, subtly chuckling to himself throughout the day.

When they finally took a break by the Sydney Opera House, Chuck pulled out his video camera. He clicked it on and filmed their surroundings before turning the camera onto him and Sarah.

"So, as you can see, we are not in Paris," Chuck said to the camera.

"We're in Australia!" Sarah said with excitement.

Chuck told the camera about their last-minute destination swap and went on to talking about their day in Sydney. Sarah had never been much for making home movies, so he talked to her and asked her questions as he described their day, wanting to keep her involved in their honeymoon videos.

"So…all in all, I've had a pretty good day," Chuck said to the camera. He turned to Sarah, but continued to hold the camera so it captured both of them. "How about you, Sarah?"

"Yeah," she agreed. "It's wonderful here."

"You're wonderful," he said quietly.

They would later find that the camera had picked up his words, though he said it only for her. She shyly looked down at his comment before picking her eyes back up to meet his. After a moment, he leaned in for a couple of playful kisses, and, with another shared smile, Chuck pressed the red button and the camera clicked off.

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><p><em>Thanks for reading! Part Two will be coming soon :)<br>Don't forget to review!_


	2. Chapter 2

_Thanks so much for the reviews! You guys always make me smile :)_

_This story is getting out of control, haha. This chapter only covers ONE day and it's 500 words longer than the first chapter…I'm SO sorry this is taking so long. I really shouldn't have posted anything before I left for my trip! Lesson learned, haha._

_I feel like I should warn all the fluff lovers reading this that you guys aren't going to be very happy with me in about 5 minutes BUT hang in there! The summary for the story says "the ups and downs" of the honeymoon…this is the big down. But please hang in there because I promise everything will be okay!_

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><p>The honeymoon came to a screeching halt on Day Three. Chuck and Sarah were pulled from their slumber by a strong, insistent knocking on their front door. Their visitor arrived at an hour that could be considered nearly ungodly on a normal day, let alone a vacation day. The couple's previous night had consisted of a late return to the hotel, quick showers, comfy pajamas, and lots of late-night snuggling after a long day exploring the city, and neither were yet ready to rejoin the conscious world. Sarah pulled a pillow from under her head and placed it over her ear as the knocking continued.<p>

"Chuck," she grumbled. "Someone's at the door."

"Ignore it," Chuck sleepily mumbled. "It's probably just the maid."

"There's a 'do not disturb' sign on the door," she reminded him.

"Sarah, ignore it," he repeated, rolling over to go back to sleep.

Sarah willed their would-be invader to go away as she tried to go back to sleep, but once the knocking began again, she groaned a little bit louder and threw back the covers on her side of the bed. She pulled a robe from the hotel over her short and silky lavender nightgown and headed for the front door of their suite.

"This better be good," she muttered under her breath.

"Sarah…" Chuck groaned as he felt her leave the bed and walk away.

Sarah reached the front door and rose to her toes to peer out the peephole on the door. An official-looking man in a suit stood on the other side, a large briefcase in his hand. With a puzzled look, Sarah opened the door.

"Can I help you?" she asked.

"Sarah Walker?" he asked in a hard voice, skipping any semblance of pleasantries.

"Yes," she said slowly. Sarah's instincts told her to be suspicious of their early-morning intruder. She and Chuck were supposed to be the only two people in the world to know they were in Australia instead of France. How had someone managed to find her here?

"Is Charles Bartowski here as well?" the man asked.

Suddenly feeling defensive instead of simply on-guard, Sarah stood up as tall as she could in bare feet and crossed her arms over her chest. "Who wants to know?" she asked.

She tried to look as intimidating as possible as Chuck appeared in the doorway separating the bedroom from the living room. The man glanced up at the new arrival before turning his attention back to the feisty blonde in front of him.

"I'm Agent Eric Hunt of the CIA," he said.

"I've never heard of you," Sarah said with a dismissive nod of her head.

Agent Hunt pulled out his badge. Sarah looked it over, decided he was legit, and looked back at him without diminishing her protective stance or the hard-boiled expression on her face.

"I'm here to finalize your departure from the agency," Agent Hunt said.

The smug look on Sarah's face disappeared; it was instantly replaced with a look of absolute alarm. "I'm sorry. My _what_?" she asked.

"Oh crap," Chuck muttered as he realized his wife was about to be completely bushwhacked.

Sarah briefly shot a troubled look in Chuck's direction before turning back to her new adversary. She laughed nervously and said, "I'm afraid there's been some mistake. I have no intention of leaving the CIA."

"No mistake," Agent Hunt said. He pulled two files out of his briefcase. "I have severance packages for you and Mr. Bartowski right here."

"Severance packages?" she exclaimed with wide eyes.

"Oh, _crap_," Chuck muttered again, earning him another lethal look from Sarah.

"I'll also need to collect both your badges before I leave," Agent Hunt said.

"_That_ won't be happening," Sarah told him with a fake smile. "I have three and a half years left on my current contract."

"You have been released from your contract, Ms. Walker," Agent Hunt said.

"_Agent_ Walker, and by the orders of whom?" she asked through gritted teeth, her hands balling up into fists against her breasts.

"Clyde Decker, and you are not an agent anymore," Agent Hunt said.

She nearly punched him right then and there, but instead, Sarah simply stood, a bundle of confusion and anger, in the foyer of her honeymoon suite. She recognized Decker's name, of course. Any long-term government agent would, but she had never even personally met the man. What could he possibly have against her? She was pondering her next move when Chuck appeared beside her, their CIA badges in his hand. Her eyes widened.

"Do _not_ give him those!" Sarah cried.

Agent Hunt took the badges from Chuck and placed them in his briefcase. He handed the severance packages to Chuck and Sarah and pulled a device similar to the ones couriers use to obtain signatures from his bag.

"If you could both sign here to acknowledge you received the paperwork," Agent Hunt said, holding the device and its matching pen out between them.

Chuck sighed and tossed his severance package onto the coffee table behind them. With a glance at Sarah, he picked up the pen.

"I'm sorry, Sarah," he said and began signing.

"Why are _you_ sorry? What the hell is happening, Chuck?" Sarah asked. "_Chuck_, don't sign that!"

Agent Hunt turned to Sarah after Chuck returned the pen to him. "Ms. Walker?"

"No," Sarah said, settling into her defensive stance again.

"Ms. Walker, if you don't sign this, I'll be forced to apprehend you and take you back to Washington," Agent Hunt said.

"Sarah, just do what he says," Chuck said softly.

Sarah looked at her husband for a moment before exhaling a defeated breath. She briefly thumbed through her severance file before taking the pen and signing her name. Agent Hunt wordlessly slipped the device back into his briefcase and stood up tall.

"Your country thanks you both for your service," he said.

Agent Hunt turned and made his way down the hallway while Chuck reached around a stunned, hurt, motionless Sarah to shut the door behind him.

"Sarah…" Chuck said cautiously after a few seconds of silence.

"Chuck," she said slowly, eyes blazing and voice dripping with fury. "What…the _fuck_ was that?"

"Okay, Sarah, just don't…don't freak out," Chuck said in an attempt to keep her calm. He very quickly realized that was the wrong thing to say.

"_Don't freak out_? Are you _serious_ right now?" she exclaimed, creeping towards him and backing him into the door as she spoke.

"Um…" Chuck stuttered nervously as his back hit the wood. "No?"

"I just…I don't know where to start, Chuck," she said with a forced laugh. "Who is Agent Hunt? Why did an agent I've never heard of before just crash our honeymoon? Why are you so calm about all of this? Why do you seem to _know_ about all of this, and why _the hell_ did that guy just walk out of here with my career?"

"Right, okay, I guess we haven't really had the while-you-were-sleeping chat yet," Chuck said rapidly. "How could I forget that?"

Sarah slammed her file of CIA paperwork onto the small table by the door so hard the table shook. "Well, let's have it," she sneered.

"Okay, but if you could just back up a bit so I could just…go…over…you know what? Here's fine. Here's good. We can chat here…like this…with you…where you are, even though…you're kind of scary right now, and you have a very deadly look on your face…your…your pretty face," he rambled. The deadly look on Sarah's face hardened. "But yeah, okay, this is…good."

Sarah stared at him a moment longer before backing down and allowing him to move to the couch. Chuck had filled her in on the Volkoff/Hartley Winterbottom side of the saga as soon as she had woken up asking if someone had killed "that bitch Vivian" for her, but with the rush from the hospital to the wedding to the honeymoon and the immense relief Chuck felt over getting to _have_ a wedding and a honeymoon and a life with Sarah, he hadn't yet told her the whole tale. Unfortunately for both of them, that meant he had left out the part that would be directly affecting their futures, leaving her to be sucker-punched with upsetting information in the middle of a foreign country. She slowly lowered herself to the couch and raised an eyebrow at him.

"Okay," Sarah said. "Start talking."

"I haven't met Agent Hunt before this morning, and I had no idea the CIA was going to crash our honeymoon," Chuck said. "And Agent Decker…well, in a way he tried to kill you."

They stayed on the couch for a long time as Chuck told her everything. He told her about how their involvement with Agent X had lead to a wash order and the stripping of their resources, clearance, and access to anything CIA, pending an official investigation into the matter. He told her about Beckman giving him her ID card to help them. He gave her the long version of everything that had happened with kidnapping Hartley from federal custody, and he told her about Decker's constant reassurance to Chuck and Casey that he really didn't care whether Sarah lived or died.

Sarah softened a bit when she heard about Chuck's complete willingness to give up his family and his life and disappear if that's what he had to do to save her. She softened further when Chuck described how he'd been tased and captured outside the hospital. She understood when Chuck told her about Decker ordering the end of their government careers and the Intersect Project once he had Chuck in custody. Sarah steeled again, however, when Chuck revealed his Intersect had been oppressed.

"Are you kidding me?" she cried, forcefully rising to her feet.

"About which part exactly?" Chuck asked.

"You don't have the Intersect anymore?" she asked.

"Well, I don't think it's gone, exactly. Decker called the glasses an Intersect oppressor…those were his words, anyway, so I think it's just buried…again," Chuck said.

"And you didn't feel the need to tell me about this big life change…oh, I don't know…after I woke up and asked what happened? When you were telling me about Volkoff's Intersect? _Before_ we got married?" she asked, leaning towards him as she spoke.

"You said it didn't matter! You said you'd love me with or without the Intersect!" he retorted in an accusing tone.

Her mouth dropped open. "Oh, that's _real_ nice, Chuck!" she exclaimed. She started to walk away, but then doubled back. "Of course it doesn't matter if you have the Intersect or not! _Of course_ I'll still love you! How could you even think that?"

"That's not exactly what I meant…" Chuck said.

"Telling me before the wedding wouldn't have changed _anything_," Sarah continued. "I can't _believe_ you would even think that. It just would've been nice to know."

"This is our honeymoon, Sarah. I understand that you're upset, but I don't want to fight with you," Chuck said.

Sarah took a deep, calming breath before continuing. "I'm not mad about you losing the Intersect. I'm not even really mad about the CIA because I knew that risk was there as soon as we became privy to the sensitive Agent X information," she said. "I'm mad at you for not telling me and letting me be completely blindsided when he showed up this morning!"

"Sarah, I didn't know that was going to happen," Chuck said.

"I know," she said and started walking towards the bedroom.

"Wait…wait! Where are you going? Don't you want to hear the rest of the story? I'm only, like, half-finished," Chuck said. Sarah shook her hand.

"Not right now," she said, sounding hurt and defeated again. "I just…we're going to be fine, but as irrational as it may be, I need an hour to be mad at you."

Chuck let her go. He watched as she shut the door to the bedroom behind her and listened to her body thump against the white-stained wood as she leaned against it. He was going to leave her be until the sounds of muffled but heavy sobs began to fill the room. Chuck immediately stood, walking towards the bedroom. His hand reached the doorknob, but he stopped himself from trying to open the door. He knocked lightly instead.

"Sarah," he said with a soft, sympathetic voice. He knew that, while she may not be mad about the reasons behind their dismissals, she was certainly grieving over that loss as well.

"Chuck, _please_…" she cried.

As much as it pained him to hear his new wife crying, she had asked for an hour, and he'd give her an hour. He pulled out his phone and set an alarm for exactly one hour from the time she went into that room. Upon realizing that his laptop was tucked away into his airplane carry-on bag, and that bag was currently resting by the bedroom dresser, Chuck wandered back to the couch and turned on the TV, looking for something to fill his time. He found video game controllers tucked into a drawer underneath the television and figured that was as good as anything. He ordered a video game from the hotel's pay-per-view service and settled onto the couch to kill the next fifty-four minutes.

When the phone went off signaling that Sarah's alone-time hour was over, Chuck immediately paused the video game he had been playing. He pressed an ear against the bedroom door and heard nothing. He tapped the door lightly.

"Sarah, I'm coming in," he said when he didn't receive a response.

He opened the door to find Sarah asleep, curled into a ball in the middle of the bed, the covers bundled around her body. Her robe lie discarded on the floor, so he hung it up and grabbed his laptop before leaving her to rest.

Chuck began kicking himself for not taking just two minutes to check his email as soon as his Inbox loaded. There, in a message marked as 'urgent,' was a note from Morgan warning him that a government agent had been by to officially remove Casey from his job. Morgan went on to say that he had noticed the agent knocking on Chuck and Sarah's door and snooping around the outside of their place as well, and Morgan believed someone might show up at their hotel. After a quick message telling Morgan that his suspicions had been correct and glossing over the morning's fight, he sent another quick message to Ellie, letting her know they weren't in Paris after all.

Once an hour, Chuck ventured back into the bedroom to check on Sarah, and he found her asleep every time. She slept into the afternoon, and Chuck kept himself busy by looking over their paperwork and playing games. He was killing time on the Internet when Sarah finally wandered out of their room mid-afternoon. She walked up behind the couch and leaned over, slinging her arms around his shoulders from behind.

"I'm sorry, Chuck," she said gently, burying her face into his neck.

Chuck set his laptop to the side and placed his hand over hers on his chest. "It's okay. You were right. You were completely blindsided."

"But so were you," she said, coming around to sit next to him on the couch. "Everyone thinks we're in France. You didn't know he'd show up here."

"At least I knew it was coming," Chuck sighed. "And I'm sorry for that, Sarah. Telling you everything should've been the first priority once you woke up."

She shook her head. "You didn't have time. Ellie and Devon hovered over me until they signed the discharge papers, and then your sister and the girls whisked me away from you to get ready for the wedding as soon as I got out of the hospital."

"I should've stopped the wedding until I had the chance to talk to you," he said.

She shook her head again. "No…our wedding was perfect, Chuck. I would've been upset and distracted during the ceremony if you had done that. I'm the one who needs to be apologizing for this morning. Even though I knew it was possible, I'm…really upset about losing my career, and I took it out on you."

"It's okay," Chuck said again.

"No, it's not okay for me to talk to you like that. That's never okay, Chuck. I could _maybe_ get away with it when I was just your handler, but not…" she started. She glanced down at her wedding ring. "Not now."

He leaned over and gave her a soft kiss. "Well, then…I forgive you," he said.

"I love you," she said. "With or without the Intersect."

"I love you," he replied. "With or without the CIA."

At that, her face crumbled slowly, tears filling her eyes again. Chuck instantly pulled her into his lap and began rubbing her back.

"Come here," he said softly, holding her to him. One hand caressed her back, while the other wrapped around her hip. She cried into her hands for a few moments before wrapping one arm around his shoulders and letting him see her face.

"I actually thought I was going to be one of those women who got to have it all…the career I love _and_ the man I love," she cried. "Pretty stupid, huh?"

"That's not stupid, baby," he said.

"The CIA has been my life since I was seventeen. I don't know how…what am I going to do now?" she asked.

"We'll figure it out," he promised. "We're still us, honey. You're smart, and you're crazy talented, and we'll find something."

She tucked her head into his shoulder, hiding from the world for another minute before picking her head up and wiping her tears away. She took a deep breath and asked, "What now?"

"Do you want to have dinner in the restaurant downstairs?" Chuck asked. "Get all dressed up…might be fun."

"We don't have reservations," she said.

"We're in one of the most expensive suites in the place. I think they can find room for us," Chuck winked.

Chuck was right. They were seated at a table that gave them a beautiful view of the moonlit beach after only a short wait. He was dressed in a suit and a red tie to match her long red dress. Sarah had swept her hair into an elegant side ponytail. They took their seats at the candlelit table. Sarah looked at her menu, while Chuck stared out the window.

"What a view," Chuck said. "Doesn't that just make everything better?"

She smiled. "I have to admit…just putting on this dress made me feel better," she said, recalling the way his fingers had danced up her spine as he had zipped the dress.

"And you look gorgeous in it," he smiled.

"Hey, Chuck," she said, biting the edge of her lip. "I think I'd like to hear the rest of that story now."

He quietly filled her in on the rest of what had happened while her body had been racked with fevers and radiation, pausing as the waiter came to take their order and deliver their meals. Sarah leaned back in her seat when he finally finished the story.

"You did a lot for me," she said.

"I'd do anything for you," he told her.

"I'm so sorry I yelled at you."

"Hey," Chuck said, shaking his head. "That's done, okay? First married fight equals _over_, which is a good thing, really, because now I don't have to dread that happening."

Sarah shot him a big smile and nodded. "Okay," she agreed.

After a shared dessert of chocolate cake and strawberries, they ordered a bottle of champagne to take back to their room. Sarah toed her heels off as soon as they walked back into their suite, and Chuck spun her around, curling his hand around her cheek as their lips met in a fiery kiss. She pulled away and pressed the champagne bottle into his chest.

"Meet me in the bathroom," she purred.

"Okay," he said, a goofy grin on his face.

She turned and shot him a smile before disappearing into the next room. Chuck shrugged out of his suit jacket, draping it over the couch, and made his way into their little kitchen to grab two champagne glasses. He entered the bathroom just as Sarah turned the jets in their hot tub on. Chuck set the champagne and the glasses on the counter and turned to leave.

"Where are you going?" Sarah asked with worry.

"To get our bathing suits," he said as if that were obvious.

"Chuck," she laughed, unzipping her dress. "Private hot tub, sweetheart…I don't think we really need bathing suits, do you?"

"Right…" Chuck said in a strangled voice as the red fabric pooled around her bare feet.

He silently watched with admiration as she pulled the red tie out of her golden locks and shook her head to allow her hair to fall around her bare shoulders. She shimmied out of her panties and slipped into the hot tub, closing her eyes on a moan as the warm jets massaged her skin. She opened her eyes and looked at Chuck, who was seemingly frozen in place.

"Why are you still over there?" she teased.

"Just…wondering how I got so lucky," he shrugged.

She let out a small laugh and watched as he hurriedly dumped his clothes onto the ground. He filled both champagne glasses and handed one to her as he joined her in the water. Sarah entwined their legs as they clinked their glasses together and took a sip.

Sarah held her champagne in the hand further away from him, so Chuck grabbed the one nearest him and brought it to his lips, kissing and nibbling on her wrist and lower arm. He let it fall from his grasp and slowly began trailing his fingers up and down her arm beneath the water. Her legs began sliding against his, her toes tickling up his thigh. After a few minutes of fooling around and teasing each other underneath the bubbles, Chuck set his glass by the side of the hot tub and took hers from her hand, placing it next to his.

Chuck grabbed her hips, the wet ends of her long hair slapping against his chest as he pulled her onto his lap. Her hands curled around his neck, and she softly teased her fingers through his hair; he curled one hand around her ass, and clutched the back of her head with the other. Both moaned as their mouths met in a fiercely passionate kiss. Their tongues played between their joined lips, and Sarah ground her hips into his lap, a move that was followed by another shared moan. He pulled her as close as he could, her wet, naked body pressing up against his torso, and she aggressively ground her hips into his lap again.

"One good thing about honeymoon fighting…" Chuck mumbled against her mouth.

"We get to spend the entire next day making up?" she whispered.

"Exactly," he grinned, bringing her lips to his again.

* * *

><p><em>So…sorry about the fight, haha. One of my problems with the finale (and I didn't have too many) was that Sarah took waking up to find out her career was gone WAY too well. I know they had to gloss over it due to time constraints and such, but I feel like she definitely would've had a reaction to that, so it was something I wanted to include. We really missed a lot in this finale!<em>

_Thanks for reading! Please review if you've got some time :)_


	3. Chapter 3

_Thanks to everyone who has reviewed, favorited, alerted, or even just read this story. You guys are awesome! I'm back home now, so maybe I'll be able to crank the rest of this thing out. Here's Chapter Three, and I hope you all like it!_

* * *

><p>The honeymoon was back on track after their dinner in the hotel restaurant. Chuck and Sarah had filled that night and the following day discovering exactly what married make-up sex was like, and, while they both agreed it was an excellent use of one of their precious vacation days, neither wanted to repeat the need for making up anytime soon. When they finally went to sleep for the night, they slept naked in the satin sheets again, curled into each other's arms.<p>

The next morning, if going by Sydney time, began the day that marked a week from their wedding; due to the immense time difference between Burbank and Australia and the extensive travel time it took to get from their home to their current location, however, it was only the fifth official vacation day for the happy couple. Chuck woke up as the sun poured through the curtains, and he rolled over to find his normally-late-rising wife wide-eyed and looking at him, awe filling her light blue eyes.

"Hey," he said with a smile, a hint of surprise at finding her awake evident in his voice. "Good morning, Mrs. Bartowski."

Rather than respond with her normal retort, she simply said, "You're my husband."

"What? That's not your line," Chuck teased. She grinned.

"No, Chuck. You're my _husband_," she said, marveling over the words. "I'm your _wife_…we got _married_ last week."

"It hasn't been a week," he said.

She grabbed her phone from the bedside table and pulled up the screen to show him the date. "Yes, it has," she said.

"Yeah, but you're using the _Australian_ calendar," he scoffed. "We got married on the _American_ calendar. That's two completely different calendars."

"I think it's close enough," Sarah said.

"I think it doesn't count," he teased with a laugh. "We'll have to have this conversation tomorrow."

"Shut up," she laughed, punching his arm. "You're ruining my moment."

"Darling," he said as he rolled into her open embrace and rested his head on her upper arm. "You're usually pretty quick on your feet, but are you just now realizing this?"

"No!" she said. "I knew that you were my husband and I was your wife…obviously, but…we freaked out a week before; now I can freak out a week after."

"Don't freak out! Why are you freaking out?" Chuck replied. "We're ready for this."

"I know we are," she said. "Maybe 'freak out' was the wrong expression."

"What's going on in that beautiful mind of yours?" he asked.

"I just…I guess I never thought I'd get to be married," Sarah said. "Especially not to someone as incredible as you are, Chuck."

"Come on…" Chuck said.

"I'm serious," she said. "We're married. I guess it's just finally hitting me."

"No offense, but when we met, you didn't exactly strike me as the type to want all of this," he said.

"I didn't," she said honestly. "I said in my vows that you were something I never thought I could want or need, and I meant that. I never even thought about it until I got to Burbank."

"What changed?" he asked with a smile. He knew the answer to that question.

"You," she said. "I starting trying to picture this normal life that you seemed to long for. I even asked Casey if he had ever thought about giving it all up for a family and a different kind of life once. I wanted to figure out what it was you wanted so badly."

"And?" he asked.

"I still want a career," she said. She looked down at him and smiled and said, "But I also want the beautiful house and our superhero kids."

He shot her a huge grin. "Yeah?" he asked.

"No dog, though," she said, narrowing her eyes at him.

"We can talk about it," Chuck said.

"That conversation will be short," Sarah promised.

"It might be longer than you think," he said.

"We can have fish," Sarah said.

"What if our kid wants a dog someday?" he asked. "You can't say no then!"

"Yes I can. He or she will have been heavily prompted by their _father_."

"_Sarah_!" he said in an almost-whine.

She shook her head. "No."

He chuckled and dropped the act. "Well, we may never agree about that, but as for the rest of it…the beautiful house and our superhero kids…you'll get it," he promised.

"I want to wait, though," she said. "I want it to be just us for a while."

"Oh, absolutely," he agreed. "We're not ready for a kid yet. I mean, seriously? We just got rid of Morgan!" She laughed, and he said, "Barring some accident, I'd rather not do it as fast as Ellie and Awesome did."

"Right," she agreed. "I'm not ready to share you yet."

"And as sexy as you'll look with a baby bump, I'm not ready to share _you_ yet."

"Sexy?" she asked with a hesitant smile. "Really?"

"Are you kidding?" he asked. "You'll be carrying our _baby_, Sarah. It'll be the most amazing thing, and you'll be beautiful."

She leaned down and captured his lips in a tender kiss. "It's things like _that_ that make me think you're so incredible, Mr. Walker," she said.

"Hey," Chuck laughed. "I thought you were ready to be Mrs. Bartowski. What happened to that whole matrimony moment a few minutes ago?"

"I am," she said. "But I'm going to call you Mr. Walker for the rest of our lives."

"Good," Chuck smiled. He pecked her lips softly. "Don't ever stop."

"I won't," she promised.

"Are you changing your name?" he asked.

"I don't know," she sighed. "Sarah Walker is just a CIA cover. It's not like there's any family attachment there."

"But you like it," he said.

She shrugged. "I guess it feels more like me than any of my other names ever have. I've been Sarah Walker _longer_ than I was any of those other names, too…including the one I was born with, and up until a few days ago, I had a few professional considerations to think about. I guess there is a bit of an attachment there."

"You don't have to change it. I'm not going to ask you to do that," Chuck said.

"I know you wouldn't. Part of me likes the idea," she admitted.

"Really?" he asked with a hint of surprise. Truth be told, he didn't really expect her to take his name. He just enjoyed teasing her with it and calling her Mrs. Bartowski. She snuggled a little bit closer to him.

"You made me Sarah," she said. "You loving me made me Sarah forever. I kind of like the idea of your family making me Bartowski, too."

"_Our_ family," he corrected.

"Our family," she said with a smile.

"Sarah Bartowski," he said, testing it out. "I think it works."

"It does," she agreed. She sighed again. "I'm thinking about it."

"Okay," he smiled. "Whatever you decide…it's up to you."

"Thank you," she said. "I appreciate that."

"I don't care what your name is. You could change your name to Princess Consuela, and I'd still love you. I might still call you Sarah, but I'd still love you," he said.

She laughed out loud. "That's absurd. Why would I change my name to _that_?" she asked. He grinned, and she shot him a look. "That's a pop culture reference I'm not getting, isn't it?"

"We'll work on it," he said, pecking her lips again. "So what do you want to do today?"

"I kind of want to know what's going on in the world," Sarah said. "I'm beginning to feel a little sequestered. Can we turn on the news for a few minutes?"

"No danger of flashing," Chuck realized. "I don't see why not."

They continued their early morning snuggling as Chuck grabbed the remote and turned on the bedroom's flat screen. He flipped on the news, only to find they really hadn't missed anything terribly major in the world during their first week away. A weather report began several minutes later, and the newscaster reported that Sydney was having an usually hot weekend as they headed into the winter season. Sarah looked at Chuck with interest.

"What?" he asked.

"Beach day?" she asked. "We haven't been yet, which is kind of ridiculous considering it's literally right outside the hotel."

"Did you bring the green bikini?" he asked. She nodded.

"It's your favorite, isn't it?" she replied.

"Okay, let's go," he said.

After putting on bathing suits and lathering on sunscreen, their first stop was a small beachside café about a block from the hotel. They sat on the café's small patio, and, when the waiter came to take their order, Sarah conveyed both their orders to him in her perfect Australian accent. Chuck hid behind his menu laughing, which was revealed to Sarah as the waiter tugged the menu out of his hands.

"Why are you laughing at me?" she asked in her American voice.

Knowing he'd been caught, Chuck scrunched up his face and pointed at her. "You weren't supposed to see me laughing."

"Why are you laughing at all?" she asked.

"Honey, do you know you're doing that?" he asked with a grin.

"Doing what?" she asked.

"Ever since we've been here, you've talked to everyone other than me with an Australian accent," Chuck said. "A pretty good one, too. It's impressive, really."

"I have not!" she laughed.

"You have," Chuck fought.

"Why would I do that?" she protested.

"Well, I don't know! That's what I'd love to find out!"

"You're hearing things," she said, shaking her head. "Though…maybe tonight I can talk like an Aussie…if you think you'd like that." She winked at him.

"Yeah…okay…" he muttered. "But, back to the point, you've been talking like that since we got here."

"I don't think so," she said, taking a sip of her orange juice.

"You know, on second thought, that looks pretty good. I think I'll have a glass, too," Chuck said. "Do you see our waiter anywhere?"

"Oh, sure," she said. She flagged the waiter down, and, as he approached the table, she said, in her Australian voice, "Can we get another glass of orange juice, please?"

"Sure thing," the waiter said.

"Thank you," she said. The waiter had barely left the table when Sarah gasped and covered her mouth.

"Told you," Chuck said.

"You set me up," she realized, speaking in her American voice again.

"Maybe a little," he admitted.

Embarrassed, she finally lowered her hand and asked, "Have I really been doing that the whole trip?"

"Every single time," Chuck confirmed.

"Why didn't you say anything?" she exclaimed.

"Because it's been hilarious!" he said. "And a little confusing."

"I guess you can take the girl out of the spy life, but you can't take the spy out of the girl," she said with a wistful sigh.

Chuck gently caressed her hand. "Don't think about that right now."

She nodded. "You're right. I shouldn't."

"But you are," Chuck sighed.

"The CIA fired me, Chuck. _Me_!" she said as if that were entirely unbelievable. "I was one of the best they had! I mean, sure, some people think I've gone soft since I fell in love with you, but that's just _crap_."

"So…just so I'm clear…we're mad at the CIA today?" he asked.

"Yes!" she confirmed.

"Okay, just checking," he said. "But, you know, Sarah, we did an awful lot of talking about running away from the spy world…"

"But that wasn't what either of us really wanted," Sarah said.

"Well, no, but now that it's what we've got…would it really be so bad?" he asked.

"I want more, Chuck," she said. "I love you, and I want to meet our superhero kids someday, and I know we have enough money now that you and I and everyone we love could never work another day in our lives, but being a spy was part of who I am. That doesn't mean that you and our marriage aren't enough for me. That just means I need something for _me_. That's okay, right?"

"Yeah, of course," Chuck said. "I want the world for you, Sarah."

"And I for you," she said.

"Then I promise we will figure it all out," Chuck said.

"You keep saying that," Sarah said.

"Because it's true," he said. "You know how it is. It always seems hopeless when you're looking for a job, but eventually, something good…or at least something good enough comes along." She gave him a blank stare. His mouth dropped a bit in realization. "You _don't_ know how it is because you've never _had_ to look for a job."

"That's right," she said.

"Well, then, just…trust me," he grinned.

* * *

><p>They made their way down to the beach after their meal and laid out two towels side-by-side on the sand. Sarah tied her hair into a messy lump on the top of her head, placed sunglasses over her eyes, and lay down on her back. Chuck joined her, lying on his towel and lacing his fingers through hers against the warm sand. She opened her eyes and sat up a little.<p>

"I thought you wanted to read?" she asked. He squeezed her hand; she lay back down.

"This is nicer," he said.

Sarah smiled and closed her eyes again. They lay on their respective towels for a while, silently holding hands against the sand. The warmth of the sun, the rush of the waves, and the gentle breeze on the beach was just about to lull Chuck to sleep when he felt Sarah slip her hand from underneath his.

She rolled onto her stomach, wanting each side to get equal time in the sun, and laid her head down so she was facing her husband. Chuck's eyes widened when she reached up and pulled the tie holding her top in place loose. The tie around her neck was still intact, but the sides of her bikini slumped against the towel, revealing the round side of her breast to his eyes.

"What are you…what are you doing?" he asked.

"Tan lines…" she muttered. "Relax."

Chuck let his eyes linger over her back. That side of her body was now practically bare, save for the small scrap of green fabric covering her ass. He looked her over, admiring the way her skin glistened in the sun. She opened one eye and stared up at him.

"Stop it," she muttered.

"What?" he asked.

"Staring at me," she said.

"Wh…I can't help it!" Chuck said. He leaned over, kissed her shoulder, and whispered, "You're _so_ pretty."

"You tell me that a lot," she said with a smile.

"I think it a lot!" he said.

Unable to move much, she puckered her lips, indicating her desire for a kiss. Chuck leaned a little further, touching his lips to hers for a brief kiss. She settled back onto her towel, and Chuck flipped onto his stomach, pulling out a magazine to read. After a while, he put it down and leaned into her again.

"Think we can go check out the water now?" he asked.

"Tie me back up," Sarah said.

Chuck quickly tied the delicate strings of her bikini top back together, and Sarah rolled onto her side, pulling him to her for a sexy kiss. Chuck was like a little kid at Disneyland as they headed for the ocean. He held Sarah's hand, and she had to jog to keep up with him. She freed herself from his grasp, however, as soon as her feet hit the water.

"Why is it so cold?" she gasped.

Chuck, who was up to his knees in water by that point, splashed around a bit and said, "It's not cold!"

"Yes, it is! I am not swimming in that," Sarah said.

"Fine. Suit yourself," he shrugged, thinking she would eventually change her mind and join him in the waves.

She stood on the shore watching as Chuck happily floated and splashed around in the ocean. She looked down at her feet every once in a while, and Chuck took the opportunity to admire her from afar. He frowned when he saw another man ogling her on the beach, and he frowned even harder and began making his way to the shore when he saw that man approach her. It took mere seconds for Sarah to flash her rings at him, and Chuck smiled proudly. While her back was turned, Chuck crept up behind her and wrapped her in a backwards hug.

"Oh my _god_!" Sarah gasped. She recognized the feel of Chuck's body against her back, but the cold water covering his skin sent chills through her veins. She turned and punched him. "That was _mean_, Chuck!"

"How are we supposed to have our big romantic _From Here to Eternity_ moment if you won't let the water touch you?" he asked. She simply shot him a look and rose to her toes for a simple kiss.

They had a nice hand-in-hand walk along where the ocean met the shore, and Chuck made another unsuccessful attempt to get Sarah in the cool ocean, and then they headed back to the hotel. Chuck decided to check his email again while Sarah was in the shower. After reading a short, vague, and rather depressing email from Morgan, Chuck decided to check in with his best friend.

"Australia, huh?" Morgan asked when Chuck called. "Ellie told me where you are. Nice!"

"Yeah, we were feeling a little spontaneous," Chuck said. "You okay, buddy?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine," Morgan said. "That email came after a long first day of new job hunting. It is brutal out there. Plus I'm kind of bummed that I have to look for a new job anyway."

"Yeah, we're dealing with that here, too," Chuck said, recalling Sarah's sudden CIA-related outbursts over the past day or two.

"The Buy More is officially up for sale on Monday," Morgan said. "It's the end of an era, man."

"It really is," Chuck sighed.

"I just keep wondering if the new owners will ever find Castle, you know?" Morgan said. "They'll never know what a great spy base the place has been or any of the great things that have happened because of it."

After a couple more minutes on the phone with Morgan and a couple minutes of silent contemplation, Chuck headed into the bedroom just as Sarah walked out of the adjoining bathroom in a bra and panties.

"Hey," she said, noticing the look on his face. "Is everything okay?"

"Oh yeah," he said. "I was talking to Morgan. The Buy More is officially for sale come Monday."

"Oh," Sarah said. "Well…I guess that was inevitable."

"Yeah," Chuck sighed, lowering himself to the bed. "Sarah?"

"Yes, Chuck?" she asked.

"I want to buy it."

* * *

><p><em>I've never been to Australia before, so I had to look up the average temperatureswater temperatures for this time of year since I know it's winter there right now. The website I was looking at said "some" people would feel comfortable swimming at Sydney beaches in the Australian winter. Hopefully the beach stuff in this chapter (or future chapters) isn't completely wrong._

_Thanks for reading! Now how about a review?_


	4. Chapter 4

_Hi readers! I hope you all are still with me. I feel absolutely terrible for making you guys wait this long! For some reason, the second half of this chapter didn't want to come out. On the plus side, I'm pretty proud of the results, and it's the longest chapter yet! I hope you guys like it :)_

* * *

><p>The honeymoon turned into a business trip with five little words from Chuck's mouth.<p>

"What?" Sarah asked.

"I want to buy it," Chuck repeated.

"You want to buy the Burbank Buy More?" Sarah asked in disbelief.

"Yes, I think I do," Chuck said.

"For nostalgia?" Sarah asked. "Look, I know you and Morgan have a _lot_ of memories there. You _and I_ have a lot of memories there, and I'm certainly not in any position to belittle your ideas since I have no idea what I'm going to do with my life, but Chuck…you could do anything. You could do _anything_. Why would you want to own a Buy More?"

"It's _our_ Buy More," he said. "It's our place!"

"Sweetheart…" she sighed. "I know this must be hard for you…"

"No, Sarah…it's ours. It's our base. It's the perfect cover," he continued. "Beckman and the CIA wouldn't have invested so much money into rebuilding it and turning it into a base if it weren't the perfect cover. The official Intersect Project may be over, but all of that about the Buy More is still true."

"Maybe, and it was a great cover, but sweetie…we don't _need_ a cover anymore, remember?" she sighed, hating it as much as he did.

"What if we did?" he asked.

"What?" she asked again.

"Okay, so I just thought of this about ten minutes ago, so this has absolutely no development to it yet, and I'm kind of just making it up as I go along, so just go with me, okay?" he rambled. She nodded.

"Okay," she agreed.

"What if I told you that I think I might know of a way that you could still be a spy? Would you be interested in that?" Chuck asked.

"Yes, of course, but…by purchasing the Buy More?" she asked.

Chuck held up a finger and made a 'not-so-fast' noise. "You said you'd go with me."

Sarah nodded firmly. "Sorry," she said. "Shutting up."

"By purchasing the Buy More _and everything underneath it_," he said. "We have 877 million dollars. We buy the Buy More and Castle, use some of our money to re-outfit it, and open our own intelligence agency. You and me…together…with Casey and Morgan, of course."

"Freelance spies," she muttered, a smile forming on her face.

"We go into business for ourselves," Chuck said.

"Our own business…" she said softly.

"Yes, but…what are you thinking? You know more about the business side of this spy stuff than I do. Is this even possible or is it just a pipe dream?"

"Well…" Sarah said, thinking it over. "We do have all of Volkoff's resources at our disposal. We have a base. We have an excellent cover. We'll have to come up with a plausible cover story as to why we bought the Buy More, but that should be easy enough. We'll need a _lot_ of equipment since the CIA probably wiped Castle clean, but…this might work."

"So you're on board?" Chuck asked. "Because this is _our_ money, so it's _our_ decision."

"Well, there's a lot to talk about before we do anything, but I'm definitely interested," she said with a smile.

"And I'll need permission for full disclosure," Chuck said. "No more lying to Ellie."

"Of course," Sarah agreed. "She might even prove to be an asset if she can get your Intersect back."

"You think she could do that?" Chuck asked.

"I don't know, but she's brilliant. She knows more about the science behind it than any of us do," Sarah said. She bitterly added, "I'm sure the CIA would've fired her, too, if they could."

"Who needs the stinking CIA?" Chuck said, hoping to avoid another angry anti-CIA rant from his wife. "We don't need them to be spies!"

"Yeah!" Sarah said, her enthusiasm growing. "They can take our badges away, but we're still the best spy team in the country."

"Maybe even the world," Chuck suggested.

"We'll show them," Sarah said.

"Mrs. Bartowski, do you agree to not quit the spy life and go into business with me?" Chuck asked with a grin.

"I do," Sarah smiled. "Mr. Walker, do you agree to not quit the spy life and go into business with me?"

"I do," he said. They crashed their lips together for a long and fiercely passionate kiss. When Chuck finally pulled away, he grabbed his phone and asked, "Cancel the dinner reservations?"

She nodded. "We have a lot to talk about."

They started their conversation full of excitement and in fantasy land, marveling over the promise of life without federal orders, punishment suspensions (because, they knew, they had had more than their fair share's worth of those,) and jumping through the government's hoops. They could choose their own missions, make their own decisions, and work wherever and with whomever they wanted. Chuck was even growing excited over owning the store he once wasn't even sure he wanted to assistant manage.

At some point during the conversation, Sarah had swapped her bra for her pale yellow nightie, and Chuck had stripped down to his boxers and a thin white t-shirt. Chuck sat against the pillows and the headboard on the bed as they talked, while Sarah lay sprawled across the middle of the mattress on her stomach. During a lull in the conversation, Sarah suddenly shot up, moving to her knees to face Chuck.

"Do you think the CIA will block the sale of the Buy More?" she asked.

"Why would they do that?" Chuck asked. "_Could_ they do that?"

"Because it's _us_, and from the sounds of it, we didn't exactly leave things on such good terms," Sarah said. "And they're the CIA, Chuck. They can do anything."

"They won't," Chuck said with confidence.

"How can you be so sure?" she asked.

"Because it's the Buy More," Chuck said. "They'll take the first decent offer they get because nobody should ever _want_ to own a Buy More."

"Unless they have an ulterior motive," Sarah grinned.

Chuck winked. "Exactly."

"They'll see right through that," Sarah said, her face falling again.

"I've worked there since 2003, Sarah. Purchasing the store with my newly acquired money might just come off as establishing job security for myself now that I'm newly married and hoping to start a family someday," Chuck said.

"Let's hope," Sarah said. "This Decker character won't be too pleased when he finds out what we're up to."

"No," Chuck agreed. "And hey, there's our cover story! Bad economy to be looking for a new career…purchase the Buy More for job security."

Sarah shrugged. "Works for me."

The conversation quickly turned to their team. Bringing Casey into their new business was a given, and Sarah agreed that even Morgan had proved himself useful a time or two.

"Do you think Casey will like our idea?" Chuck asked.

"Are you kidding? We're going to tell him he gets to keep shooting people. He'll be thrilled," Sarah said. "And Morgan stays in place as General Manager?"

"Yes," Chuck said immediately.

"Is it weird that it's not one of us?" Sarah asked. "Doesn't management usually change when a store is under new ownership?"

"Maybe, but I can't take that away from Morgan," Chuck said. "I'm much more comfortable in my Nerd Herd position anyway. Maybe we can make you co-assistant manager."

Sarah looked mildly horrified. "What?"

"By name only, of course," Chuck said. "You wouldn't have to actually do anything…and you _would_ look pretty cute in the uniform."

"The uniform?" she asked.

"Gray pleated skirt, yellow button-down, Buy More vest," he said. She raised an eyebrow at him as she could practically see his mind drifting back into fantasy land. "You could strut through the store in your cover outfit, like you used to, and I could sneak away from the Herd desk and whisk you off to the Home Theatre Room…or the storage closets…you know, like old times."

"I knew you were riding on nostalgia here," Sarah said, shaking her head.

"Maybe a little," Chuck admitted, focusing his mind back on the present.

"I believe I did most of the whisking anyway," Sarah grinned.

"You're a woman who knows what she wants," Chuck said with a wink. His face softened into a lovely smile and he added, "And yet, you're just going along with my completely random, totally not-thought-out, spur-of-the-moment dream. You're amazing."

"Chuck, it's my dream, too," Sarah said. "I'll admit you surprised me with the Buy More thing, but it's _great_. You and Casey and Morgan are the best team I've ever had."

"Better than the CAT Squad?" Chuck asked slyly, having heard several more stories about the formerly ferocious foursome at their wedding.

She laughed. "So much better than the CAT Squad. None of you are traitors…that I know of, anyway, and with four women…things could sometimes get a little…well, for lack of a better word, catty."

Chuck shrugged and put on one of his adorable grins. "Plus with your new team, you get to come home with me."

"Yeah, well, not having that with the CATs wasn't for lack of trying on Carina's part," Sarah muttered.

"What?" Chuck squeaked. Sarah just glanced up at him with an amused look that was almost daring him to ask her if she was serious or not. "Okay, I don't know if you're kidding right now, but if you're not, I'm not sure I needed to know that!"

She simply kept grinning at him and flopped back onto her stomach.

* * *

><p>They talked logistics of a freelance intelligence agency well into the night and the following morning, filling page after page of the hotel complimentary notepads with things they didn't want to forget. They finally stopped when Sarah seemingly lost the ability to remember something they had just discussed. She managed to make her way up to the top of the mattress, but they fell asleep amid written notes and plans and a reminder for Sarah to call her lawyer once they woke up.<p>

Chuck woke up late that morning, which amounted to only a few hours after they actually went to sleep, to find his wife sprawled over three-quarters of the bed. His leg ran into a stack of rumpled papers containing their doodled plans from the night before as he stretched against his small corner of the mattress; he quietly snuck out of bed to gather everything together and give his muscles a proper stretch. They had fallen asleep on top of the covers, so once Chuck was through cleaning everything up and putting their notes somewhere safe, he collapsed in between Sarah's spread legs and gently rested his chin on her cotton-covered stomach.

When the extra weight against her middle didn't wake her, Chuck grabbed the pale yellow fabric that had bunched around her hips in her sleep and peeled it from her skin. Pushing it to just below her waist, he pressed his mouth to her belly in a kiss. He gently nipped and licked her flat stomach until he felt her stir. Sarah awoke on a small giggle and used her elbows to push her upper body off the mattress.

"Hey," she mumbled in a voice heavy with sleep. Chuck looked up at her and laughed as she struggled to keep her eyes open.

"Whoa, someone's not ready to be awake," Chuck laughed.

"If you _know_ that, why did you wake me up?" she muttered.

"Because I don't want to be alone," he said.

Sarah let herself fall back onto the mattress with a groan and snuggled into her pillow. "Chuck, we stayed up until after four A.M. talking," she said. "That was only five hours ago."

"I know," Chuck said.

"We haven't done that since we started dating," Sarah reminded him. "And I needed more sleep then, too."

"We were planning our futures," Chuck said. "I think it was time well spent."

They shared a smile, and Chuck began stroking her hips as she tried to slip back into sleep. He slipped a finger beneath the top hem of her panties, caressing the strip of skin where the material had been resting, and she popped one eye open to shoot him a look.

"Chuck," she warned. "_So_ not awake enough yet."

He slid her panties a little down her hips and kissed her newly uncovered skin. "Are you awake enough for me to kiss you?" he asked.

She sighed, burrowed further into her pillow, and mumbled, "Yeah…" in a very unconvincing tone.

He chuckled against her stomach, sending vibrations through her body, and she lifted her hips, allowing him to pull the white lace down her legs.

"If you fall asleep while I'm doing this, I swear…" Chuck muttered against her.

"I won't," she promised, threading her fingers through his hair.

He reached up and grabbed her hand, tangling his fingers up with hers. Chuck moved their joined hands to the mattress so they were resting against the side of her hip. Their fingers played together as his mouth caressed her, and Sarah kept her eyes closed, lazily chanting his name. He kissed her until she stopped shuddering and then moved up the bed to snuggle beside her as she caught her breath. Sarah turned her head, and the couple shared a steamy good morning kiss.

"Hey," she whispered again.

"Hi," Chuck said, smiling as he gave her another little peck on the lips.

"Do you want me to return the favor?" she asked, sliding her leg against his.

Chuck wrapped his arms around her and she buried her face into the space between his shoulder and his neck. "Maybe later," Chuck said. "That was about you."

They were quiet for a while, simply basking in the comfort of being wrapped in one another's arms. Sarah broke their tranquility by suddenly turning and reaching for her phone.

"Oh, I have to call the lawyer!" she remembered.

"Okay…if that's what you want to think about right now…" Chuck muttered.

She shot him a look. "It's already late enough in California, and it's Saturday there! I should've called earlier," she said.

"How did you become so tight with this lawyer anyway?" Chuck asked, fearing the answer he knew was almost certainly coming.

"Oh, Graham set me up with him years ago," Sarah shrugged as she scrolled through her contacts list. Chuck sighed.

"And there it is…" he muttered. "It's a _CIA_ lawyer? _Sarah_!"

"Oh, he left the CIA years ago," Sarah said with a wave of her hand. "We're okay. Are we ready to do this?"

"Make the call," Chuck nodded.

Sarah waited while the phone rang. Once the lawyer answered, she identified herself and apologized for calling him at home on a Saturday evening. She told him she never would've done that otherwise, but her reason for calling was a bit urgent. Her jaw dropped open after she had paused to allow the lawyer to respond. Chuck watched with interest.

"No, I'm not looking to get out of my marriage already!" Sarah exclaimed.

Chuck frowned, deciding that, between that comment and the pre-nuptial agreement this man had drawn up for Sarah a few weeks before their wedding, he was not going to be this lawyer's biggest fan. Sarah rolled her eyes and waved her hand at Chuck again, telling him not to dwell on it.

"I'm calling because Chuck and I need your help," she continued.

She switched the call to speaker phone and gave the lawyer the abridged version of their dismissal from the CIA, their extraordinarily generous wedding present, and their new desire to purchase the Burbank Buy More from the CIA. Chuck filled in the blanks as need be, frowning again as the lawyer chuckled at the prospect of the formerly supreme Agent Walker buying an electronics store.

"_You_ want to buy the Burbank Buy More from the CIA?" the lawyer laughed. "What are you playing at, Walker?"

"Nothing!" she replied. The lawyer's silence on the other end of the call told Sarah that he knew better than to believe that. She sighed and, with a grin, said, "Okay, look, the less we tell you at this point, the better. Can you do it?"

"Anything for you, Sarah," he said. "You're _sure_ about this?"

"Yes," Chuck said immediately.

"Yes," Sarah said.

The lawyer promised to look into it and make procuring the store for his newly-married clients his top priority. Sarah thanked him, apologized again for the hour at which she was putting in her request, and ended the call.

"So now we wait?" Chuck asked.

"Now we wait," Sarah confirmed.

"I don't like that guy," Chuck told her.

"I'm sorry," she said. "He's kind of like Graham. He's…protective of me."

"Well, I guess I can understand that," Chuck said. He kissed her cheek, stroked her arm, and rolled onto his back. He shot her a grin and said, "You can return the favor now."

Her mouth dropped open again, this time on a laugh. When she had finished laughing, she swung a leg over him so she was straddling him and placed her hands on his chest.

"Is this my payback for the impolite things my lawyer said?" she asked.

"You bet it is, baby," he replied. "And also, you know, because you offered."

Sarah leaned down and kissed him, stroking the inside of his mouth with her tongue. Chuck raised his head off the pillow to meet her for the kiss, his hands on her lower back and neck to hold her in place against him.

"As you wish," she smiled, reaching for his boxers.

* * *

><p>Their lawyer called back as they were getting ready to leave the hotel a few hours later. Despite the late hour in Los Angeles, he had utilized some of his old CIA contacts to uncover the asking price for the Buy More and needed to talk finances with Chuck and Sarah. Within an hour, they had decided on amounts for an offer, a counter-offer, and a maximum they were willing to spend. With a promise to make an offer first thing Monday morning, the lawyer said he'd be in touch.<p>

Chuck and Sarah went to a restaurant reminiscent of the one they went to on their first date. Sarah wore a brown sundress, her hair loose around her shoulders, while Chuck wore a dark blue button-down shirt and a pair of nice jeans. They were sharing an appetizer when Chuck commented, "Your mood has brightened considerably since our last meal out."

She smiled. "I have a lot to be happy about. This is proving to be an excellent trip."

"You didn't think it would be?" Chuck asked in surprise.

"I didn't expect it to be quite so eventful," she said. "And…I have to admit, I am getting a little anxious to get home."

"You are?" Chuck asked.

"Start our business, redesign Castle," Sarah said. "I mean, I know it's not ours yet…"

"It will be," Chuck interrupted. He paused and said, "Sarah, do you think we'll be okay…you know, as business partners? We haven't really considered that."

"Well, why wouldn't we be?" she asked, taking a moment to contemplate that herself. "We've been working together in some capacity for our entire relationship."

"Yeah, but we had Beckman to keep us in line, and now with us in charge…let's face it, you and Casey are _much_ more professional than Morgan and I are," he admitted. Sarah chuckled. It was true. Chuck continued, "I just don't want us to turn into enemies, you know?"

"I think we'll be all right, Chuck. I mean, I'm sure we'll disagree sometimes, but that would be true whether we were going into business together or not," she said. She winked at him and said, "We'll be okay."

The formerly white clouds in the sky started down pouring just as Chuck was signing the credit card slip to pay for their meal. The sound of the rain suddenly pounding hard against the roof caused both of them to slowly look up. They looked back at each other with alarm.

"We walked here," Sarah said.

"Yes, we did," Chuck said.

After checking out a radar and realizing the rain wouldn't be stopping in any period of time that was acceptable for trying to wait out the storm in the restaurant, and after becoming thoroughly soaked during a few failed attempts to hail a cab, they decidedly to simply make the most of the rain storm and walk back to their hotel hand-in-hand. They were almost there and passing the entrances to the beaches when Sarah suddenly began pulling Chuck towards the sand. He pulled right back.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Trust me, Chuck," she smiled.

They continued holding hands as Sarah led them down the beach, stopping when they were just a few inches from the spot where the rough waves were crashing against the shore. Sarah tossed their shoes back behind Chuck and told him to sit. Chuck sat down on the sand and she sat close to him so the lengths of their bodies were touching. She slung her legs across his thighs, and they snaked their arms around one another.

"What are you doing?" Chuck asked again.

"You have been incredibly sweet and romantic with me this entire honeymoon, so if you want a sexy, romantic moment on the beach, I want you to get it…even if that water is way too cold," she said. "We're already drenched now anyway."

Chuck captured her lips in a hard, passionate kiss, slipping his tongue into her mouth as soon as she parted her lips on a slight gasp. Her hands cupped his face, sliding against his slippery skin as he continued to kiss her hungrily. Chuck clutched her thigh underneath the darkened, clingy fabric of her dress, the sand from his fingers scratching against her skin.

"I know it's not quite _From Here to Eternity_," she breathed, panting lightly in his ear.

"It's better," he groaned, seeking out her lips again.

The rain fell around them as they leaned into another series of hot kisses, moaning as their lips connected again. He pulled her onto his lap, and she moved to straddle him, resting her bare legs on the sand beneath them. She deepened the kiss, tasting the rain and something so wonderfully Chuck. Their bodies were rapidly becoming coated with the sticky, wet sand they sat on, so Chuck and Sarah slowed down to let their heated make out come to a natural end. Chuck reveled in the little noises that escaped Sarah between each soft kiss, and he clutched her wet hair as he pulled away, placing his lips by her ear.

"I wish I could make love to you right now," he whispered, stroking her bare upper back with his free hand. "Right here. On the beach. In the rain."

Sarah moaned at the prospect and leaned her forehead against Chuck's, eyes closed, hand still wrapped around his cheek. "I don't think that would be very smart," she said, recalling the patrol car she'd seen at the top of the beach. With a wicked grin, she added, "But in the rain on our balcony might be kind of fun."

"Let's go," Chuck muttered, pulling her in for one more kiss.

* * *

><p><em>Thanks for reading! Don't forget to review if you've got some time!<em>

_Also - as just a little informal poll - how do you guys feel about authors changing their names on this site? I've been thinking about changing my name here to match my Tumblr name, but I know there's a bit of a notoriety thing here, and I don't want to lose all my readers. So...I'm just curious. Does an author changing their screen name completely throw you off?_


	5. Chapter 5

_Hi everyone! The reviews for my last chapter were waaaaay below my normal average, so I'm a bit worried I'm losing people with this story. We've almost reached the end – one chapter left after this one! Pretty good for a story that was only supposed to be one scene, huh?_

_Anyway, I hope you enjoy, and please review!_

* * *

><p>The honeymoon took a turn for the adventurous the next day. The waiting game Chuck and Sarah were stuck in with the lawyers, the CIA, and the Buy More back in the States was getting to them, the uncertainty and possibilities becoming too much to think about. They were sitting on the couch in their suite the next morning, doing nothing more than staring at the phone that lay between them.<p>

"Are you sure it's on? Maybe we missed a call," Chuck suggested.

"He's not going to call back this early," Sarah said.

"Can you check?" Chuck asked. Sarah picked up her phone and unlocked it.

"See? No missed calls," she said.

"Okay," Chuck said. Sarah put the phone back down, and the couple returned to staring at it in silence. When the backlight on the screen went off, Chuck said, "How about now?"

"Okay, we need to go out," Sarah said. "We really need to do something to just…take our minds off of this."

"I know," Chuck agreed. "I just…I feel like I'm going crazy!"

"I know," Sarah sighed. "Me too."

"The lawyer can't even do anything for another day since it's still Sunday in California!"

"Right! We're not going to hear anything until tomorrow, our time, at the earliest."

"So what do you want to do?" Chuck asked.

"Something…exciting," Sarah smiled. "It's been weeks since I've had a really good adrenaline rush."

They started by donning bathing suits and taking a run together on the beach outside of their hotel. After that, they ventured into the city again and ended up in Sydney Harbour. They started with parasailing in the Harbour – separately, since Chuck was all too happy to be dunked into the water while Sarah wanted to stay high and dry – and then moved on to climbing to the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Sarah once again delighted in actually getting to do tourist-y things for once in her life, and Chuck kept one hand on his video camera, filming memories for them to look back on as they grew old together.

They stopped by a market on the way back to their hotel, deciding to finally utilize the full kitchen their honeymoon suite featured. They cooked dinner together in the kitchen and ate on the lounge chairs on their balcony, watching the sun set over the beach as they shared their meal. By the end of the day, they fell into bed exhausted, their minds far away from suspenseful business deals going down across the Pacific.

The next day, Chuck and Sarah woke up with unexpectedly sore muscles, the type of soreness that usually only came after a physically strenuous mission. Sarah moaned in pain and surprise when she climbed out of bed and stretched; Chuck moved slowly on the other side of the mattress, seemingly unwilling to move at all.

"I think we might've over-done it yesterday, baby," Chuck said.

Sarah laughed in disbelief. "Oh no," she said. "That's ridiculous. I can_not_ be this out of shape in only a little more than a week."

"Sarah," Chuck said. "Just go turn the hot tub on."

Chuck and Sarah shed their pajamas and sunk into the overly warm water, allowing the jets in the side of the tub to massage their skin. Sarah, who had piled her hair high on top of her head, draped her feet across Chuck's lap as soon as they were settled into the bubbles. He instinctively curled his hands around her feet and rubbed circles into them with his thumbs. Both lay in the tub with their eyes closed and the water up to their necks.

"Can we just stay in here all day?" Chuck moaned.

"Well, that's not very healthy," Sarah said.

"Don't care," Chuck replied. "Muscles hurt…"

"I could give you a massage later," she offered. "If you promise to reciprocate."

Chuck contemplated her proposition in silence for a few moments before he opened one eye to look at her. When he stopped rubbing her feet, she opened her eyes as well.

"There's a spa in this hotel, right?" Chuck asked.

After about an hour in their hot tub, and after a mini make out session on the bathroom counter, they dressed in comfortable clothes and wandered downstairs. Chuck wore jeans, a t-shirt, and his converse, while Sarah dressed in yoga pants, a tank top, and flip flops. They ate lunch in the hotel restaurant and headed to the spa when they were through.

Chuck had called from the hot tub that morning and booked them a couple's massage for that afternoon. They laid on their stomachs on side-by-side massage tables as two of the hotel's massage therapists worked on their backs. They dangled their arms between their tables, and Chuck trailed his fingers up and down her skin. His eyes were slightly opened, watching Sarah, while Sarah's eyes were closed in ecstasy.

"Oh my god…" Sarah moaned as the massage therapist rubbed her lower back.

"Wasn't this a good idea?" Chuck asked, caressing lightly down her arm.

"I think Australia brings out the brilliance in you," Sarah said.

She reached for Chuck's fingers and laced them through hers. Sarah opened her eyes just long enough to smile at him, slipping them shut again as he squeezed her hand. They continued holding hands, softly trailing their thumbs across the other's skin, the silence in the room punctuated only by the occasional sigh of pleasure. Before their hour-long massages could be completed, however, Sarah's cell phone began ringing.

"Sarah, _phone_!" Chuck said after she showed no signs of moving.

"The voicemail will get it," she said as the therapist rubbed her legs.

"What if it's the lawyer, Sarah? _Get it_!" Chuck rapidly replied.

"It's too late there, Chuck," she said.

"Would you please just check?" he exclaimed in a high-pitched voice.

"Fine," she said with a sigh.

She hurriedly pulled up the towel that was draped across her bottom and curled it around her nude body as she stood. Sarah fished the phone out of her bag; her eyes widened when she saw the caller ID.

"Chuck, it's him," she said.

"Answer it!" Chuck said. "And _told you_!"

"Sarah Walker," she answered, slipping into the dressing room to take the call.

Chuck's massage therapist reached his shoulders in an attempt to continue his massage. Chuck brushed her away and sat up, pulling his sheet around his waist.

"Do I look relaxed enough for that right now?" he asked.

Sarah swung the door open just a few minutes later. Her left hand still held her phone to her ear, she had dressed back in her street clothes, and her eyes were slightly wider than normal.

"Chuck," she said.

"Well?" Chuck asked.

Sarah smiled. "It's ours."

Chuck moved at the speed of light to get his clothes back on, and the couple ran into the hotel lobby, phone still glued to Sarah's ear. Chuck nearly ran into the front desk, and Sarah stood at the counter next to him. The clerk hurriedly stood from her computer.

"What can I do for…" she started. She was unable to finish her question before Chuck interrupted.

"Fax number!" he called. "We need your fax number, please."

The girl passed him a card with the hotel's numbers, and Sarah relayed the fax number to her lawyer. He was sending the papers for the purchase of the Buy More for them to look over, sign, and send back. They'd sign the originals – and officially close the deal – when they returned to the States later that week. The papers printed from the fax machine, and the girl handed them over, along with a pen, as Sarah hung up. Chuck and Sarah stood at the front desk, taking a moment to look them over.

"Everything look okay?" Chuck asked.

"Yeah," Sarah nodded. "Looks good."

Chuck picked up the pen and twisted it open. "Ladies first," he said.

Sarah took the pen, and, with a slight hint of disgust, said, "I can't believe I'm about to be the owner of a _Buy More_."

"Whoa, hey-oh…hold up," Chuck said, grabbing the pen from her. "Second thoughts?"

"No," she said, grabbing the pen back from him. "Just wondering what you've done to my life."

"Made it exponentially better, obviously," he said. The goofy grin disappeared and he added, "Seriously, Sarah…our money, our business, our decision. If you're not absolutely sure, we can talk about it some more or…"

Sarah cut him off. "I'm sure, Chuck."

His face broke into a smile. "Yeah?"

She took a deep breath. "Are we ready for this?"

He nodded. Sarah scrawled her name into the correct space on the paper and passed everything to Chuck so he could sign above his printed name. He signed, and they waited while the clerk faxed the papers back to Sarah's lawyer.

Too wound-up from the deal they had just secured, they decided to forego the rest of their massage time and headed back up to their room. The door hadn't even shut behind them before Chuck grabbed her, lifting her off the ground and spinning them around.

"I've done a lot of things that most people would consider scary," Sarah said as Chuck put her down. "But that…that made me really nervous."

"You risk your life twice a day and a business risk made you nervous?" Chuck asked. "Even if we fail, we're still kajillion-aires!"

Sarah laughed and pulled him in for a kiss. "We're not going to fail because _that_ is not an option."

"Hey, that's the spirit!" Chuck said. "We need to go out tonight and celebrate. Anything you want!"

"Anything?" she asked, a gleam of mischief in her eye.

"What? Why? No…now I'm scared," Chuck stuttered.

* * *

><p>Music reverberated off the walls of the Australian nightclub as Chuck and Sarah descended into the room. Sarah wore black heels and a sparkly black mini dress, while Chuck wore dark jeans and a nice shirt. Sarah eagerly pulled Chuck into the club, nearly skipping towards the bar, while Chuck looked around. A band was performing on stage, a band that must be quite popular in Australia, if the line to get into the club was any indication.<p>

"Sarah, what are we doing here?" Chuck asked. "You don't even care about music or live shows!"

"I like dancing," she said.

"But I…I don't dance," he stuttered. "Not this kind of dancing. Not without some serious…"

"Social lubricant?" she smiled, passing him a freshly poured tequila shot. "That's why we stopped here first. Cheers!"

"Shots? This is an interesting choice from you," he said.

"We're celebrating, aren't we?" she replied.

They both downed their shot, and Sarah signaled for another round. After a couple minutes, the bartender refilled their glasses.

"Wh…another one?" Chuck asked as Sarah handed it to him. She emptied her glass and slammed it onto the bar.

"How many do you require to go dance with me?" Sarah asked.

"There's a fine line between being willing to dance and not being able to," Chuck said.

She shrugged, took the shot out of his hand, and downed it herself, making a face as the alcohol traveled down her throat. Chuck's eyes widened in surprise before his face contorted into a look of mild confusion. With a firm grip, Sarah curled her hand around his shirt and, with a sultry look, yanked him towards the dance floor.

Sarah threw her arms up into the air and started dancing, enchantingly swaying her hips in time with the fast beat. Chuck watched her, awkwardly moving back and forth a bit, wondering who had possessed his wife when they walked into that nightclub. He was still a bit sore from the previous day's activities, and, as Sarah spun around so her back was facing him and grabbed his hands, he had a feeling Sarah was only going to make that worse.

She held his hands, stretched their arms out, and danced back into him, sinfully twisting her hips against his middle. She placed Chuck's hands low on her hips and grinded against him, encouraging him to sway with her. Chuck clutched her hips firmly, stalling her movements, and pulled her into him. He leaned down to Sarah's ear.

"What has gotten into you?" he asked.

"Well, now that we have a plan and a life waiting for us back in California, I've decided life without the CIA might not be so bad after all," she said, turning her head to look at him as she spoke. She gave him a heated kiss and added, "And I intend to celebrate."

And celebrate she did. When they finally returned to their honeymoon suite, a couple hours of dancing and a couple more drinks later, Chuck was just a little tipsy, while he wasn't sure how much of their night Sarah was going to remember the next morning. After a few unsuccessful tries to get the keycard into the slot, Chuck took it from her hands and let them into the room. Sarah shut the door behind her and fell back against it, facing Chuck. The high heels in her hand banged against the door, and she looked at her husband with a dreamy smile.

"What?" Chuck asked with a laugh.

"I could fall in love with you," she dreamily sighed. Chuck frowned slightly.

"Could?" Chuck said with a tilt of his head. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I kind of hope you already have."

"No…" Sarah sighed in her Australian voice, drawing out the word. "That's not what I meant."

"Did that just have all the vowels in it?" Chuck laughed.

Sarah curled her hand around Chuck's cheek, caressing it softly. She spoke in her American voice again and said, "The government can't stop me from loving you anymore."

Chuck nodded. "Because they did such an _awesome_ job of preventing that as it was…"

"You sound just like the Captain!" she gasped.

"The _Captain_?" Chuck laughed. He looked away from her and shook his head, realizing just how gone she was. "Wow."

"I can do whatever I want now…" Sarah pondered.

"Without the CIA?" Chuck asked, struggling to keep up. "Like what?"

She thrust her left hand into his face, not even noticing when her shoes went crashing to the floor. "I can wear your ring to work whenever I feel like it," she said. She withdrew her hand and continued, "I can tell everyone that I was never just a stupid wiener girl!"

Chuck knew those things weren't particularly true, but he chose to humor her. "Right," he nodded. "Both very important."

"I can make everyone call me Sarah Bartowski. I can say _no_ when that crazy Carina tries to get me into trouble! I can finally threaten Jeff and Lester with my Smith & Wesson next time I catch those creeps filming me. I'm a spy, Chuck! Did they really think I didn't notice? I can…" she said, suddenly struggling to come up with another example. "I can…"

"Get really drunk in the middle of the week?" Chuck suggested.

"Yes!" Sarah exclaimed. She slid down the door in a fit of giggles, and Chuck sat on the floor across from her.

"Oh my god, she's acting like Mrs. Charles…" Chuck muttered to himself, recalling her Texas persona. Sarah shot him a confused look upon hearing the name of her once-alias.

"I'm Mrs. _Bartowski_," Sarah said seriously, pointing to herself.

Chuck laughed again. "Yes, you are."

Sarah shot forward and slammed into him, knocking Chuck onto his back as he hit the floor. Sarah settled onto his stomach and kissed him hungrily. He moaned and kissed her back, tangling his hand into her long hair. Their hands were all over each other as Chuck aggressively pulled her as close to him as he could. She finally pulled away from his mouth and kissed her way to his ear.

"Fuck me, Chuck," she whispered.

"Wow, I…you're not done celebrating, are you?" he asked.

"Not even close," she grinned.

* * *

><p>Sarah woke up late the next morning, only a few minutes before the clock struck noon. She was naked in her hotel bed, lying on her stomach, sheets pooled around her waist, blonde locks haphazardly strewn across her pillow. The sun was streaming in through the opened floor-length window, and Sarah scrunched up her face when she rolled over and faced the sun. Chuck rested beside her, clad in only a pair of boxers, watching her slowly wake. He had been awake for a few hours, despite sleeping in later than normal; he knew she'd be in pain when she woke up, so he had remained in bed, wanting to be there for her. Sarah finally slowly opened her eyes, and he smiled at her.<p>

"Well, good morning, sunshine," he said with an amused smile and a laugh. She groaned. He laughed again. She covered her ears in protest. "Do you remember last night?"

"Umm…there was drinking…and dancing…and drinking," Sarah moaned as Chuck tried really hard not to laugh. "I think I was really happy about being out of the CIA but I don't think I know why…"

"Oh, you were very excited about the things you could do now that you're not an agent," he told her. She closed her eyes tightly and Chuck let out a silent chuckle.

"Can you close the curtains?" she whined. Chuck got up to close the curtains and climbed back into bed. The heavy fabric blocked out some of the sun, casting a glow across the bedroom. Chuck trailed his hand across her back in comfort as she asked, "Such as?"

"Oh, you know, things like turning down a mission because you just don't feel like flying to Monaco today, or, uh, choosing your own covers, or _being really hung over_…" he said.

"And I decided to start with that one?" she asked with a nervous grin.

"Apparently," Chuck said. "Do you remember the sex?"

She thought about it for a minute and smiled, "Yes."

"And do you remember what you said to me _before_ the sex?" he asked, a goofy grin on his face.

She pondered that question for a moment and gasped, closing her eyes in embarrassment. With a cringe, she said, "If we're going to do it on the floor, we might as well do it doggy?"

"That's what you said," he laughed. "You're a very eloquent drunk."

She shot him a look. "Oh, wipe that stupid grin off your face."

His mouth dropped open in fake offense. "It was a good night!" he said.

Sarah groaned again and buried her face into her pillow. Chuck reached into the little bedside table and pulled out the small bottle of Aspirin he had placed there that morning. He held it above her ear and rattled it gently.

"Drugs?" Chuck offered.

Sarah sat up to swallow a few pills and fell back to the bed. "Not getting up yet."

Chuck exchanged the medicine for the remote to the bedroom flat screen and said, "I thought we could spend today watching movies in bed."

"I love you," she smiled.

"I love you," he said. "I've never seen you drink like that before."

"Well, don't expect to see it again. I do not want to repeat this," Sarah groaned.

"What can I do for you, baby?" he asked softly.

"Just hold me," she said. "And maybe start with a movie that doesn't have too many explosions."

He chuckled a bit and slid onto his back, holding out an arm so she could curl into his side. Sarah cuddled up to him and pulled the covers up to their chests, cocooning them in the warm bed. She laughed as he chose an animated movie, and he soothingly rubbed her back as they watched the film. They spent the day taking turns picking films to watch, getting out of bed only to share a mid-afternoon shower and retrieve the room service they ordered from downstairs. At the end of the day, when Sarah was holding Chuck in her embrace and his head was resting on her shoulder, she brushed her fingers through his hair.

"Chuck?" she whispered. "I like this."

He smiled and kissed her chest. "Me too."

* * *

><p><em>Thanks for reading! Don't forget to let me know what you thought :)<em>


	6. Chapter 6

_Hi everyone! Well, we've finally reached the end of this tale that was originally only supposed to be one scene and turned into six entire chapters. Thanks so much for sticking with me until the end!_

_To the person who asked how much Chuck & Sarah paid for the Buy More – I don't know enough about business or franchises or government real estate sales to even begin to accurately guess at that, so until the show gives us an amount, I'm not touching that one. _

_Special thanks to my friend Michelle for the idea on what souvenir to get Casey :)_

_As always, Chuck isn't mine, and please review!_

* * *

><p>The honeymoon was winding down as Chuck and Sarah neared the end of their second week in Australia. On a rainy afternoon, Chuck sat on the couch playing another ordered video game while his lovely bride sat at the large dining table one room over. Sarah was sitting at one end of the table, her right leg curled underneath her. Her left foot rested on the chair, leg bent up in front of her. Blame it on the gloomy weather, but neither one of them had woken up on the right side of the metaphorical bed that morning.<p>

They had spent most of the day separated and silent, exchanging good mornings and room service orders and mumbled words when necessary. She was spending her day on Chuck's laptop, researching things they would need to purchase for Carmichael Industries. Besides being in a generally irritable mood, she was slightly annoyed over the fact that she was spending a day of her vacation working on their business while he was playing instead of participating.

"Chuck!" Sarah called. "Can you come look at this, please?"

"Not right now," Chuck replied.

"Why not?" Sarah asked shortly.

"Because I'm in the middle of a level right now!" he called.

"So pause it!" she suggested.

"Yeah, give me, like, seven minutes!" Chuck said.

Sarah sighed and muttered, "Because you haven't been playing that for _three_ hours already…"

"What?" Chuck called.

"I need your opinion on this as soon as possible," Sarah said. "It's for our business!"

"In a minute!" Chuck repeated.

Sarah sighed and began tapping her pen against the pad of paper she had been writing on. Chuck rolled his eyes, muttered something about how he apparently still had to jump when his handler said to jump, and paused his game. He walked over to her with a fake smile.

"What?" he said curtly.

She shot him an evil look before saying, "I've been researching Gulfstream jets, and I need your opinion before I contact them for a sale," she said. "I'm assuming you'd like to be involved in the decision-making process, but if your game is more important, I can handle it."

Chuck glanced at the laptop screen with wide eyes, the video game now forgotten. Sarah had pulled up two different Internet screens and manipulated the windows so they were both visible and side-by-side. Each window was filled with a different Gulfstream jet.

"Planes?" Chuck gasped.

"Yes," Sarah said.

He looked at her in awe and excitement. "We get to buy a _plane_?" he exclaimed. "That's every guy's millionaire fantasy!"

She chuckled at his boyish excitement and said, "How else do you propose we get around for missions?"

He took the seat adjacent to hers and positioned the computer so they both could see. "Well, I guess I didn't really think about it," he said. "This is so cool."

Sarah smiled, their unexplainable irritable moods suddenly gone. She said, "Okay, so which do you like? The one on the right has a larger capacity, but I'm not sure we need that."

"So you're leaning towards this smaller one here?" He skimmed the corresponding web page. She nodded, cutely resting her head on her knee. "Well, how much is it?"

"Twelve," Sarah said.

"_Million_?" he squeaked.

"Give or take a couple hundred thousand," she said.

"Twelve _million_?" he repeated. "_Dollars_?"

"Well, it's a jet, Chuck. What did you expect?" Sarah asked. "And what happened to 'every guy's millionaire fantasy?'"

"I wasn't expecting…_that_," he said as if he were having trouble speaking. Sarah passed him her bottle of water, and he took a calming drink. "Can we afford that?"

She giggled slightly and said, "Chuck…877 million minus the honeymoon, minus the Buy More, and minus the plane still leaves us with more than we'll ever need."

"It just sounds like a lot," he said.

"It is a lot," she said. "Making these kinds of purchases is blowing my mind a little, too, but we can do it."

"Purchases…plural?" he asked. "What else are you looking at?"

"Lots of things," she said. "We're getting the bones of Castle. Everything inside of it was CIA or NSA property."

"Right," Chuck said. "I knew that."

"Then why are you freaking out?"

"Because I've never had money like this before, and, in my spontaneous, excited, let's-buy-the-Buy-More ramblings, I don't think I really had a grasp on what re-outfitting Castle really means," he said quickly.

"It's going to take a chunk…a large chunk, but with Volkoff's resources, we can do it," Sarah said. "Though, while we're talking money, there's one more thing I think we need to put some away for."

"What's that?" Chuck asked.

"College funds," she said.

"You want to go back to school?" Chuck asked. His face fell. "Oh no, does one of us have to get an MBA for the Buy More cover or something?"

"No, Chuck," she said with a slight chuckle. "For our children."

"For our…god, you're going to be such an incredible mother," Chuck sighed, his love for her written all over his face. Taken aback by his response, her face broke into a smile. "A couple million should cover college costs in 20 to 25 years, right?"

"God, I hope so!" Sarah said with alarm. "Wait…was that a joke?"

"Sadly, I'm not sure. I was on scholarship, and it was still pretty steep. You went to a fancy school, too. What was yours?"

"I don't know. The government paid for it. The CIA basically paid me to go to college."

"Wow," Chuck said. "But…yes…college funds. Absolutely."

"Good," Sarah said with a grin. "Now, I've got some tactical equipment that I'm ready to buy…"

* * *

><p>They ventured back out into the city once the weather cleared up the next afternoon, on a mission of utmost importance. In just a short amount of time, they'd be on a plane back to California, and they had yet to buy souvenirs for anyone, including themselves.<p>

Some of their family and friends proved easier to buy for than others. Chuck and Sarah walked through the little shops hand-in-hand, easily picking out things for their family. Ellie would be getting a nice bag with 'Australia' written in pretty cursive letters on it and a Sydney Opera House photo frame. Devon would be getting Australia workout gear and an Australia beach towel, while Clara would be receiving a cute Australia dress and a stuffed Koala bear in a little Australia t-shirt. Morgan and Casey, however, had them stumped.

"You know…we're getting them jobs, a Castle, a plane, and guns. What more do they need?" Chuck finally asked.

"What about this?" Sarah asked, picking up a large red boomerang. "I think Morgan might enjoy this."

"Yeah, he'd love it, but that's not a good idea," Chuck said.

"Why not?" Sarah asked.

"Because, baby, it's _Morgan_. He'd probably throw it and watch in awe as it came back and hit him in the head," Chuck said. "He's always doing stupid things to his head."

"He is?" Sarah asked.

"Well, there was the Wii Tennis incident of '07. He was playing with one of those accessory rackets…whacked himself right in the face…concussion."

"Oh my god," Sarah said.

"Yeah, but I put my hand through a light fixture two minutes before that, so we'd have ended up at the hospital anyway," he said casually.

Sarah took a moment to process that thought before teasing, "You nerds are so lucky to have found me and Alex."

"Oh, believe me, I _know_," he agreed, giving Sarah's lips a kiss. "And Alex would _kill_ us if anything happened to Morgan's head on our watch."

"So I should put this back," Sarah said. Chuck grabbed the boomerang before she could place it back on the shelf. She shot him a quizzical look.

"Let's give it to him," Chuck said with a boyish grin. "Might be fun."

"Great," Sarah said. "So that just leaves Casey."

"Hmm…well, how about…" Chuck said, scanning the store. His eyes zeroed in on something, and he started laughing. Chuck ran over and picked the item up. "How about this?"

In Chuck's grasp rested a large kangaroo pen. The kangaroo wore boxing gloves and featured a button that would make the arms move in a punching motion. Sarah raised one eyebrow at the toy as Chuck continued to laugh.

"You can't be serious," Sarah said. "That is the definition of a trinket, and Casey is not a trinket guy."

"It's perfect for him! He could be doing his mission paperwork and just suddenly be like 'I'm going to knock you dead, moron!' Pow!" Chuck said, pressing the button to make the kangaroo punch his fists.

Sarah nodded slowly, holding back laughter as she thought about how her husband would likely be on the receiving end of that reality if he gave Casey that pen. She finally said, "You can get it for him if you want, but I am not going to be there when you give it to him."

"You don't want half the credit?" Chuck asked.

"I don't want half the _blame_!" Sarah said.

"Fine, oh wise one…what's your great idea?" Chuck asked.

Sarah pursed her lips in thought and said, "…Cigars?"

"Oh, that _is_ a good idea," Chuck said. "I'm still getting him the pen."

The next day was their last real vacation day, as the following day would be spent almost entirely on a plane. Chuck and Sarah chose to spend the morning packing up their honeymoon suite, securing everything except the items they'd need for that night or the next day in their suitcases so they wouldn't have to worry about gathering everything up in the morning. Their last night was relaxing and romantic. They got all dolled up and shared a candlelit dinner at a swanky downtown Sydney restaurant before returning to their room to dance under the stars on their balcony. Sarah lit candles all around their bedroom, and they undressed each other slowly, exchanging tender kisses as more soft skin was uncovered. They took turns giving each other a massage before making love under the satiny covers.

Once their lovemaking was over, they lie cocooned together under the covers, the blankets pulled over their heads. There was just enough light seeping through the sheets to make out one another's faces. Chuck lay on top of Sarah, a sheen of sweat still covering both of their bodies, and Sarah curled her arms up and underneath Chuck's, hands resting on his shoulders to hold his body to her as they softly kissed. Sarah's legs slipped from their loose hold around his hips to entwine with his, and Chuck slowly released her lips.

"I love you _so_ much, Sarah," Chuck whispered, gently stroking her cheek.

Sarah moved one hand up to caress his neck and whispered, "I love you, Chuck."

"So…tomorrow…" he started.

"Back to real life…think we can handle that?" she asked.

"No," he muttered. "I want to stay here with you, just like this, forever."

Sarah leaned up to adoringly kiss his mouth. "Tonight was wonderful…but being _home_ and being married will be wonderful, too."

They shared a smile. Chuck mumbled, "Can't wait," against her lips and captured them in another kiss.

Chuck and Sarah took one last stroll on the beach the following morning before heading to the airport. Their flight left in the middle of the afternoon, and they tried to spend a decent portion of the 15-hour journey sleeping, hoping to beat the worst of jet lag. When they arrived in Los Angeles, they were tired but not the exhausted zombies they had been upon their arrival in Sydney. They hailed a cab once they gathered their luggage and told the driver to take them to Sarah's lawyer's office.

When the driver pulled up outside of the law offices, Sarah passed him a hundred and told him to keep the meter running. After a bit of chit-chat with the lawyer and an official introduction to the man for Chuck, they signed the final papers and were handed the keys to their new spy base. After another excited kiss and expressing their gratitude to the lawyer, they headed home.

Chuck insisted upon carrying his bride over the threshold again, and Sarah let him, just happy to be home with her husband. Chuck pulled the suitcases into the apartment as Sarah wandered into their home and picked up a note from their dining room table.

"What's that?" Chuck asked.

"_Hope the honeymoon was everything you wanted and more_," Sarah read. "_Come over for dinner if you're hungry and too tired to cook. We'd love to see you, and I promise not to ask too many questions. Love, your big sister_."

"Can we take her up on that, please?" Chuck asked.

"Absolutely," Sarah said.

They gathered their gifts for their family and headed across the courtyard. Ellie greeted them both with big hugs and immediately ushered them to the table to eat. Even Clara giggled in delight upon receiving kisses from her aunt and uncle.

"So how was the honeymoon?" Ellie asked as they began eating.

"Awesome, I hope," Devon said.

"It was wonderful," Sarah smiled.

"And eventful," Chuck added.

"We had a very busy two weeks," Sarah said.

Ellie groaned. "Oh, little sister, I do _not_ need the details!"

Sarah let out an embarrassed giggle and said, "Oh, no! Not _that_."

Chuck eyed his wife and asked, "Should we tell them?"

"Full disclosure, remember?" she reminded him. She turned to her in-laws. "You can't tell anyone…not yet."

"Are you pregnant already?" Ellie asked with excitement.

"No!" Chuck immediately exclaimed. Suddenly nervous, he looked to Sarah for confirmation. She closed her eyes and shook her head as if that were the stupidest thing she'd ever heard. Chuck turned back to Ellie and repeated, "_No_!"

"Well, fine. What made your honeymoon so eventful?" Ellie asked.

"Your secret's safe with us," Devon promised.

"Really? Because you are a _horrible_ liar," Chuck reminded him.

"If Ellie knows, I'm cool," he said.

"Well, um…to make a long story short, because of the Agent X intelligence that Chuck and I became privy to, as well as the fact that Chuck broke about a dozen protocol standards to save me, we no longer work for the CIA," Sarah said. "They fired us; Casey, too. An agent arrived with our severance packages after three days or so."

"That's terrible! What are you guys going to do?" Ellie asked.

"Well, the Buy More…" Chuck started. Ellie cut him off.

"No!" she cried. "_Chuck_!"

"Let me finish!" Chuck said. "It's for sale."

"I heard through the grapevine that a deal was closing on that this weekend," Devon said. "It's sold, from what I hear."

"Oh, it sold," Sarah nodded. "To us. We bought it."

"What?" Ellie exclaimed. "Sarah, _no_, not you, too!"

"No, Ellie, it's a _good_ thing," Sarah promised. "We bought our old headquarters so we could start our own freelance spy agency."

"Carmichael Industries," Chuck said.

"Whoa, the CIA pays _that_ well?" Devon asked. "How are you going to afford that?"

"Well, that's the other thing," Chuck said, sharing another mischievous grin with his wife. "We're kind of millionaires now."

"I'm sorry…what?" Ellie asked.

"Our old friend Hartley left everything he owned under Volkoff to us," Chuck said.

"Which amounted to about 877 million dollars," Sarah said.

Ellie's fork crashed into her plate with a loud clang as she dropped both it and her mouth in utter shock. Devon nearly choked on his vitamin water.

"Are you two being 100 percent serious?" Devon asked. The newlyweds nodded in confirmation. "Dude, that is…_beyond _awesome."

"Wow, _beyond_ awesome…what a compliment!" Chuck said to Sarah.

"Ellie, are you alright?" Sarah asked.

"I just…I think…I think I'm actually in shock right now," Ellie said. "That's…oh, you guys, that's a _lot_ of money!"

"Ellie, are you crying?" Chuck asked.

Ellie's eyes had visibly watered, but tears hadn't yet spilled from her eyes. "I'm just happy," she said. "Look at you! You have this gorgeous wife and your own business…_that's_ the Chuck I always knew was in there! I think this calls for a celebration!"

Sarah grabbed Chuck's hand beneath the table. She squeezed it once and shot him a sly smile as Ellie scurried off to the kitchen to see if they had a bottle of champagne.

One warm shower, two pairs of comfy pajamas, and three ignored suitcases later, Chuck and Sarah finally climbed into their bed and curled up together just as they had done the night after they returned from their first "honeymoon." Sarah closed her eyes and buried her face in his neck, and Chuck held her tightly, softly caressing the strip of bare skin between her top and her shorts.

"Do you remember the first time we were going to spend the night together in here?" Chuck asked. Sarah let out a little moan of assurance.

"Your sister had been drugged with pentathol, we were fighting, and you called me a prostitute," Sarah replied.

He chuckled. "Not our finest hour."

"No," she agreed.

"Did you ever think we'd be here? In this room…married…for _real_?" Chuck asked. "I mean, did you ever think when you walked into the Buy More that I'd be your husband?"

"God, no," Sarah said. "Burbank was just another mission; you were just another mark." She laughed and continued, "I didn't even think you'd be a challenge! I believe my exact words were 'piece of cake.'"

"Ouch!" Chuck laughed. "You thought my mission would be boring?"

"Not boring, exactly. Just…easy," she said. "Boy, was I wrong! You, Chuck Bartowski, are, by far, the most difficult mission I've ever had."

"Gee, thanks," he laughed.

"But no…I had no idea walking into that store would change my life," she said sweetly. "What about you? Did you ever think I'd be your wife?"

"I think Morgan and I both started wishing for that the moment we saw you," he said. She laughed into his neck. "But _no_, are you kidding? You were the crazy beautiful, way-out-of-my-league girl who I was never going to call and never going to see again."

"How'd that work out for you?" she teased.

"Terribly," he joked.

Chuck placed his left hand on top of hers on his chest, and they both took a moment to silently stare at their rings.

"I love you," he whispered.

"I love you, too," she whispered. She snuggled closer to him, kissed his neck softly, and mumbled, "Goodnight."

He kissed her forehead and whispered, "Goodnight, baby."

* * *

><p>The next morning, Chuck was hurrying out of his apartment, late for meeting Sarah in Castle, when he ran into Morgan in the courtyard.<p>

"Dude, you're back!" Morgan exclaimed.

"Hey!" Chuck grinned.

"How was the honeymoon?" Morgan asked. "_Details_! You and Sarah do a lot of Australian kissing?"

Chuck looked confused. "I don't think I know what that is, but listen, buddy, I can't really talk right now. I've got to go do this thing with Sarah."

"Oh, of course, dude. Go," Morgan said. Chuck started to leave. "Oh, hey, Chuck! The Buy More officially sold yesterday."

"Did it?" Chuck asked with an appropriate amount of sadness.

"Yeah…guess I really am out of a job come Monday," Morgan sighed.

"Hey, man, you never know, you know? You may really hit it off with the new owner. You could end up being best friends," Chuck said, wanting so badly to tell him.

"No way, dude. You'll always be my best friend," Morgan said. "Don't tell Alex I said that, though. I kind of told her she was my best friend when we were in bed the other night. It was just one of those stupid things that just…slips out…in the moment."

"Right," Chuck nodded. "Okay, got to run!"

"And I'm still your best friend, right, Chuck?" Morgan called. Chuck was already gone. Morgan repeated, "Chuck?"

Chuck ran into the main room of Castle, where Sarah was already standing. They had decided to let their secret out of the bag on Monday, and they wanted to get in there and discuss decorating options before buying anything further. Sarah gave him a kiss as he arrived, apologizing for being late.

"It's okay, Chuck. We've got plenty of time," she said. "So I was thinking…"

While Sarah rattled off her ideas for the headquarters, Chuck started at the vast, empty space before him. It looked huge without all of the equipment. Sarah was right; they had a skeleton. He had never seen it so bare before. Overwhelmed by the moment, he pulled Sarah into his side, wrapping his arms around her.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Look around…" he said. "All of this is ours."

Sarah looked around for a moment and took a deep breath. "Wow," she said. "I know I've asked this before, and I know it's kind of too late, but…are we ready for this, Mr. Walker?"

He stood, his arm wrapped around his wife, in the middle of their empty Castle – a room that held so much of their history. Chuck had told her he loved her mere inches from where they were standing; she had promised him they were going to happen just a few feet away. Now, looking around the room that held their future, he said, "Mrs. Bartowski, I think we're ready for anything."

* * *

><p><em>For those wondering - yes, that kangaroo pen IS a real thing, and you can find the Australia kiss definition on Urban Dictionary. I somehow stumbled upon that the other night, and, well...they were in Australia, so it was perfect, haha. <em>

_Thanks again for reading! Until next time, guys!_


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